Operative Memory
by alienonmyshoulder
Summary: Sometimes we forget for a reason
1. Chapter 1

Desert skies revealed a myriad of lights pricking the darkness. A soft wind tugged at desert grasses, creating the only disturbance in an otherwise silent atmosphere until dancing lights, followed by the hum of an engine, sliced through the serenity. If the SUV parked on the side of the road had not been black, the speeding car, which tore down the road, may have noticed it. The driver may have noticed that instead of being pulled over, it was angled in such a way to suggest it had come to a sudden stop. Instead the passing car whipped up an enormous wind and quickly disappeared.

All that remained was the desert and the SUV. Moonlight danced off the shiny bonnet; the only sign of life emanating from the vehicle. The driver's side door was slightly ajar. It must have been that way for a while because the interior light failed to illuminate the emptiness inside.

oooOooo

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"But…"

"Dad, listen…"

"No, Charlie, it was here before…"

"Lost something Alan?" Amita's soft female voice sounded the end of the Eppes' bickering. She had softly landed downstairs, still dressed in one of Charlie's old shirts.

"My book on robotics. I was sure it was downstairs last night." The sigh that erupted from Alan's lips told Amita he had clearly spent a frutstrtating amount of time looking for said book.

"Oh." Amita's reaction was all she could muster as she looked at the dining table, piled high with Charlie's paperwork. "Well I can help you look."

"That'd be great, thanks. It's moments like these I forget how practical a woman can be around the house." One eye glared at Charlie while Alan continued to search under the mounds of paperwork.

"I'm sorry. It is my house though."

"And don't I know it."

"What is all this?" Amita asked Charlie who was clumsily moving his papers around, almost knocking over his coffee in the process. Alan's fatherly instinct managed to save that disaster with a quick grab.

"Thanks. Um. Oh. Marking." Charlie sheepishly avoided eye contact with his father to continue looking.

"Marking? Charlie. This looks like months worth of marking. Oh, hey, is this it?" Amita lifted a red book from underneath a pile of papers and showed Alan.

"Yes. Oh thanks Amita." Alan smiled then paused and turned to look at Charlie. "Like I said, I thought I left it here last night."

"Should be more careful hey pops." Charlie pushed it one step too far. Alan felt a fatherly lecture swelling within him. "Bit behind in marking are we? Sure you shouldn't be cutting back on some of your extra-curricular studies?"

"Look, dad, this is a one-off. It's just. That last case of Don's was pretty full-on. But y'know, it's been a while and nothing. So I'm just trying to get ahead. That's all."

Alan picked up an assignment and read out the date. "16 November 2006!"

Charlie hid his shock and grabbed the assignment from his dad's hands. He looked at the student's name and shook his head. "Cindy Marr dropped out in February. I'm just marking it in case she reconsiders next year."

"That's still 2 months from her handing it in till she dropped out." Amita had only just re-entered the dining area after grabbing herself a bowl of cereal. She spooned a huge milky portion into her mouth to hide her mischievous grin.

"Good point Amita." Alan stared astutely back at his youngest son, he was enjoying having an ally to tease Charlie in the house with once more. Margaret had been all too adept at it and he missed it.

"Amita. What? Won't you be late for class dad? I thought you were in a rush?" Charlie exclaimed as he tried to reclaim some semblance of control over the situation and the paperwork. One pile chose that moment to slide off the table as though mocking his efforts.

"Actually I don't have class today Charlie. It's Sunday. They have made some wonderful advances in science of late. It's called a calendar, and it lets you know precisely what day it is on any given day. Would come in handy for marking students assignments too."

Charlie chose to ignore the obvious dig when he remembered something. "Sunday. Weren't you s'posed to be playing golf with Don today?"

"Ah, yeah. He cancelled. Said something came up." Alan only half answered Charlie as he flipped through his robotics book searching for something in particular.

"Something came up? Like what? A case?"

Alan had found the page he was looking for and stopped to remove his glasses and look up at Charlie. "I don't know. He didn't say."

"Maybe he needs my help. Do you think he needs help? Maybe I should call him."

By now Alan had begun leaving the dining area with his head fully entrenched in his textbook. "Your brother isn't exactly afraid of calling you for help these days. Pity your students don't have the same pull with you. Might not be facing a Sunday of work if they did."

With that Alan was gone. Amita was slouched back in the dining chair looking at the amount of work Charlie had splayed in front of him. "Doesn't look like I'll be getting much of a Sunday either, unless I help you with some of these. Charlie?"

Charlie was staring back at where his father had just recently left. He'd heard Amita but wasn't concentrating. "Sorry."

"You ok?"

"Sure. I don't know. Strange that's all."

"What's strange?"

"Nothing, just. Don. I haven't heard from him in over a week. When he doesn't ask me to help on cases I have no idea what's going on in his life."

"Don's hardly someone who relinquishes information easily, to anyone. Ask Liz."

"I know. I know. I don't know."

"You don't know what?"

"That last case. What with Liz and all. I think he took it pretty hard. It was pretty full-on. I just worry about him that's all."

"Charlie, that's understandable. And incredibly cute." Amita smiled at Charlie when he looked to her with his puppy dog eyes. "I know how much you worry about Don, with his job and all. It's one of the things I love about you, your compassion."

"Oh really?"

"One of. Mainly it's the brain. I'm hoping one day to sell it on e-bay for a fortune and retire to the Bahamas with a mechanic."

"A mechanic?"

"Yeah someone who can fix things with their hands. Think I'd like that."

oooOooo

Alan munched on his piece of toast and quietly mulled over another page in his textbook. Charlie bounded down the stairs and interrupted the quiet solitude this morning ritual was bringing Alan.

"Still reading that book. Must be good. Mind you I have some great books on calculus that would knock that one out of the park."

"Really. And do those books tell you how to build a robot dog?"

"Theoretically they open your mind to everything. Everything is numbers."

"Well, practically, I just want to know how to attach robot leg a to robot body b. I don't need to know why it works on a cosmological scale. Amita didn't stay?"

"No, she had early classes. Which reminds me, don't you.."

"Yes, I start at 9. It's Monday. Just in case you need to know."

"Thanks I am well aware of what day it is, today."

"Excellent. You want to car pool in?"

"Actually no. I can't. Well. I mean. I was going to drop by the FBI and just see Don. I don't have a class till 11."

Alan removed his glasses and stared at Charlie who had poured himself a coffee during their brief chat. "You're worried about him?"

"No."

Alan stared back at him. "Well ok yes, but, it's more for my piece of mind. Megan told Larry that Liz was filling in for Colby this week."

Alan considered this, it seemed to be the first he'd heard of it. "Do you think that's wise? He probably wouldn't like his little brother sniffing around the first time she's back in the office working with him would he?"

Charlie gave Alan his defeated younger brother look and stared into the black coffee in his hands.

"Make sure you tell me everything y'hear?" Alan placed his glasses back on his head and resumed reading. Charlie suppressed a grin. _Good old dad. I know exactly where I got my inquisitiveness from._

oooOooo

Megan checked her watch and looked across the cubicles to where Liz and David were sitting. They were sharing a polite joke. David knew how tense it was going to be when Don arrived and was more than likely capitalizing on the fact he hadn't shown yet.

Megan's phone rang and she answered it quickly. Her shoulders sagged when it turned out to be more work, not Don.

Immediately after hanging up she tried Don's cell again. Voicemail. She sighed, picked her legs out from under her on her chair and walked over to David and Liz. "Some guy went beserk in an abbatoir this morning."

"And we're being handed it?" David grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair and began to rise.

"Beserk guy was FBI."

"What?" Liz was already standing.

"Yeah. This one's going to be messy." Megan began to walk across to the elevator.

"You think? An abbatoir, man." David screwed his face up in disgust.

"Hang on, where's Don?" Megan and David stared at each other in reaction to Liz's question. They'd talked about how they would handle any awkward conversations but they really hadn't planned on Don not showing up.

"Don't know. I've tried him 5 times this morning. His cell's off." Megan explained.

"I thought he would have learnt from the last time." Liz sighed as she stormed past the other two agents heading for the elevator. She almost barrelled down Charlie as she did so.

Charlie gently grabbed her shoulders and said, "woah."

"Oh hey Charlie, sorry. We've got a case." Liz reached for the elevator button as Charlie looked across to David and Megan.

"Where's Don?"

"You tell us?" At that moment the elevator opened and Liz stepped in, holding the doors open for the other two.

"Oh hey Charlie, you haven't heard from your brother have you?" Megan said as she entered the elevator.

"Not all week. Actually I was coming here to see him," curiosity was overtaking Charlie fast, "do you need my help?"

"Not at the moment. We'll let you know once we've sussed it out. And hey, Charlie, if you hear from your brother. Tell him to switch his cell on."

The doors closed on Megan's last word and muffled it. Charlie was left standing in the FBI building alone. People buzzed around him and he heard comments from some of them about an agent losing it. Charlie wondered who they were talking about and a dread filled him. He stood motionless long enough to work out that if there was something wrong with Don, then there's no way Megan would have walked out without telling him. She'd have taken him aside, sure, but she'd never ignore him. Unless, she didn't know either.

Paranoia ticked away in Charlie's brain alongside a million other thoughts when his cell rang. Clumsily fumbling for his bag he managed to grab the phone just before it switched to voicemail and hopefully answered thinking it would be Don. "Hey."

"Charlie?"

"Oh hey Amita."

"Gee don't sound so happy."

"Sorry, I'm at the FBI and the elusive Don Eppes is performing a matinee performance. He's not here."

"It's still early though isn't it?"

"Yeah, but he doesn't normally switch his cell off."

"Well, I mean, he has been known to."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry you rang for a reason?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm with Larry and he wants to know if you've seen that article on CERN he collaborated on last year. He thinks he may have left it in your office."

Charlie sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Yeah I have. He gave it to Millie last week. When she asked for it."

"What? Oh great, thanks Charlie, well that explains it. He hasn't misplaced it, Larry is finally entering the final stages of dementia."

Charlie could hear an 'oy, I heard that' in the background which made him smile. "Glad I could help."

"Thanks Charlie. I'll try and find where Larry left his short-term memory. See you tonight?"

"yeah, sure."

There was a pause before Amita added, "I'm sure Don isn't too far away."

"I know. Thanks."

Charlie hung up his cell and realised once more he was standing in the corridor of the FBI, prone. He made up his mind and walked across to Don's cubicle, dumped his bag, sat in his chair, and waited. Charlie was going to make sure he knew his brother was alright. The elusive Eppes may not tell Charlie if something was bothering him but he certainly couldn't avoid visibility. He would just wait until Don Eppes, in flesh and blood, arrived.

ooOoo

A highway patrolman was taking note of the number plate and calling it in. While he waited for a response he walked back around to the driver's door and became distracted by something about 10 feet away. He walked across to it and bent down. Rubbing a finger in the dust, he looked at something he was familiar with, blood. The patrolman looked back towards the vehicle as his radio crackled a response. The woman on the other end relayed the owner's details, repeating the final ones, "Special Agent Don Eppes."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Blood pooled along the cement cracks and bled its way down to the drain, joining the slaughtered animal blood. An agent was trying to collect samples of the blood before it drained away, or was contaminated.

Megan stepped over the carcass of a bull to the tag identifying human victim number 3, the shooter. Special Agent Marcus Field lay with a stunned look on what remained of his face. Megan had to avert her eyes. It had only been a couple of weeks since she'd stood with Marcus as they surveyed another murder scene; a drug deal gone sour. Suddenly every conversation they'd had, every facial expression she'd seen him make was buzzing around her head, being profiled with hindsight. _Nothing, not a thing_. Megan could not think of one warning sign that would suggest Marcus was capable of, or close to, this. Then again that last case had claimed more than its fair share of emotional casualties.

"What you got Liz?"

"Guys on the floor say his wife works here." Megan gave Liz a quizzical look. "In accounts."

"Oh yeah, what else do the guys on the floor say?"

David handed Megan a specimen bag containing a wedding ring. "This was found up there." David pointed to the office area situated above the slaughter floor. "It's Marcus'…" David swallowed, "Agent Fields."

Megan looked at the blood splattered ring that was inscribed with the word _eternity. _"Where's the wife now?"

"She's being notified." Liz responded before opening up her notepad and relaying her notes, the forced detachment evident in her voice. "The other two victims worked in accounts. There's no witnesses, the guy who found them reckons they always worked late on Fridays, hence why no one noticed anything till now, Monday."

"So what're we thinking? Maybe the wife is having an affair?" David added before turning around to stare at the lines of animal carcasses suspended and dripping. For a moment he considered becoming a vegetarian.

"Right, maybe. Combine that with that last case…" Megan was interrupted by her cell. She unclipped it with her gloved hand and flipped it open. "Reeves."

"You ever think about giving up meat?" David asked Liz while surveying the abattoir.

"I figure if I can stomach rotting human flesh, a steak isn't such a big deal." She looked at David, and clarified. "Yeah."

"What…Ok. No, I'll do it. Just. Guess it's my call now, right?"

David and Liz turned towards Megan. The last part of her conversation wasn't normal. Megan was good at hiding her emotions when needed, but for some reason, David could swear there was panic in her voice. Megan snapped her cell shut and looked at David, then Liz. Her eye contact with Liz was more intense, more uncomfortable.

"What? What is it?" David asked.

"It was." Megan didn't know how to word this, "I don't know just yet. Details were scatty."

"What details?" Liz was getting a bit frustrated, she was used to cutting to the chase and Megan was just not spitting this out. They'd finished surveying this scene, whatever it was they were clear to move on. Besides, Special Agent Marcus Field only brought back tender memories for her, memories of that last case.

"Don." Megan breathed out as though it was the hardest thing she ever had to do.

"Does he want us to meet him somewhere?" David was sort of relieved. The way Megan was acting it was like something bad was brewing. If Don was on another case then he could get out of this stinking abattoir at least. _Yeah, definitely tofu tonight._

"No." Megan cleared her throat. "Don's vehicle has been found abandoned. On a remote desert road."

David stared back at Megan in shock but it was Liz who broke the silence, "And Don?"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Charlie was batting away stares from agents who clearly recognised him but never knew him to be at the premises without Agent Eppes or one of his team. It made him uncomfortable and he just buried himself in more marking. A flick of the wrist showed the time. Don still wasn't in the office, nor answering his cell, and Charlie could only wait another hour before he had to be at CalSci.

Turning another paper over, Charlie scraped a big red C+ on the cover. Suddenly he noticed a change in the atmosphere. The area had quietened substantially. It was no longer a hive of shuffling feet and activity. Charlie stared up at the room and noticed agents standing and whispering. It was a little surreal. When a young assistant brushed past oblivious to the goings on Charlie grabbed her attention.

"Oh hey, sorry, do you know what's going on?"

The young girl looked at Charlie's badge and then stared at his face, a flicker of recognition dawning. She'd seen him around the place many a time, never realised he was a consultant. "I dunno, something about one of the agents I think. I never really get told much so…"

Charlie remembered the case that Don's team had set off to investigate this morning. He thought it strange that it took so long for word to get around back here, but then if these agents were anything like Don, information was lucky it ever made it around.

Charlie plumped himself back down in Don's chair and continued marking. His papers were so precariously stacked on Don's desk that the movement caused several of them to tumble to the ground. Charlie picked them up absently. Placing them back on Don's desk Charlie noticed Don had left a file open from the previous case. _Thought that was closed._ It was opened on the photo of one of the dead drug bosses; there had been two. His chest had been torn apart by the blast of a sawn-off shotgun and it wasn't pleasant. Charlie gulped and closed the folder. With his attention averted he didn't notice the stares that sheepishly were directed towards him. An even greater hush descended as the elevators dinged and Megan, David and Liz stormed through.

"I'll ring Larry, find out where Charlie is, David can you chase…" Megan stopped short as she saw Charlie sitting at Don's desk.

"Oh hey Megan, I wanted to wait for Don. He's late. You need help with this case?"

Megan was momentarily unable to speak. Liz stood still, white and surveyed the area. She noted people looking at her then quickly averting their gaze. Liz walked to her cubicle, placed her jacket over her chair and breathed in deeply. Deciding at the last minute that she couldn't do this, she marched off to the restroom.

"She OK? Did she know the agent?" Charlie asked as he packed up his papers into his knapsack., unwittingly taking some of the files from Don's desk with him.

"No, Charlie, actually yes, we all knew the agent. You may even remember him. It was Agent Field."

Charlie contemplated the man he'd met briefly three weeks ago. All he could picture was the bright smile he carried with him. It stuck in Charlie's mind because, despite all the ensuing carnage, Agent Field's 'niceness' and demeanour had been such a contrast to his own brother's. It gave Charlie hope that Don could do his job and be OK. And then Colby and Liz, well, things hadn't ended so well on that case in so many regards and Charlie was once again consumed with worry for his brother. "Agent Field? How many casualties is that case going to claim?"

Megan hoped that Agent Field was the end of it, but in her heart her fears for Don suggested that was wishful thinking. No one could have predicted the turns the last case took. Even Megan spent the odd moment wondering if something she had done could have prevented…_Reeves, snap out of it, there's a job to do._

"Charlie, sit down."

"I'll go…" David motioned towards the women's bathroom. He meant to say, _go help Liz_ but realized that was a bit tricky considering her destination. He shrugged and walked off in that direction anyway. What more could he say?

"What's going on?" A strange feeling descended on Charlie and he swallowed as he looked into Megan's face. He sunk down into Don's chair as Megan turned her back on him for a second to think.

"I didn't think I'd find you here, that's for sure." Charlie was about to interject when Megan held up her hand. "Sorry Charlie, there's no easy way to say this, you have clearance, you have the right to know and quite frankly I don't really know."

"Know what? Megan what the hell is going on?"

"Early this morning a highway patrol policeman was called to an abandoned car outside San Diego, in the desert. The car is Don's and that's all I know."

"What do you mean? Where's Don?"

"Charlie, we don't even know how long his vehicle has been there, let alone where your brother is at the moment. But we're sure as hell going to find out."

Charlie stared back at Megan in disbelief. "I haven't spoken to him in over a week. Megan…" His eyes pleading with Megan to tell him that Don was safe, that it was a mistake, the car wasn't Don's. "…Is there anything else?"

Megan didn't know what good it would do to tell Charlie about the blood until they knew if it was Don's or not.

"No. Nothing. Except I need to talk to Alan as soon as possible."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"You don't have to." Alan remarked before biting into his sandwich.

"Are you kidding me, I've spent hours contemplating my navel over these past few months and while it is certainly enlightening and a worthwhile pursuit, I do feel that somehow the conditions aren't right for those feelings of abstraction to return. I don't think one can truly exist outside the body while habiting a physical form. So, in answer to your question Alan, I would love to take a few hours out of my contemplative day, to get my hands dirty and build some artificial intelligence with you."

Alan stared back at Larry and grinned. They were going to have fun. "Alrighty then. I just need to pick up the remaining parts from Professor Avery and then maybe you can come around tonight. Maybe even kick Charlie out of the garage for a change."

"Megan." Larry exclaimed as she saw Megan walk up to the cafeteria he and Alan were eating in on campus. Larry didn't notice Charlie just outside the cafeteria, slunk down against the door lintel, waiting with his head bowed. Alan did.

"What's wrong?" Alan looked at Megan and knew instantly this visit was intended for him, not Larry.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Megan had driven both Alan and Charlie home. Larry had followed in Alan's car.

"I think, I don't know. It's been a long time. Yeah it was Thursday, he cancelled a golf game."

"You saw him?"

"No, spoke. Are you telling me no one has seen him in…"

"No Alan, he was at work on Friday. David and I saw him then." Then to reassure Alan, "he was fine. His ID says he left the building at 9pm. We're just going through the CCTV to verify where he may have gone."

"Liz?" Alan knew that after what had happened Don had retreated into his shell. He knew it was unlikely he'd seen Liz, but he hoped. He also hoped his hand would stop shaking.

"She hasn't spoken to him since, well, you know."

"Yes. I do know."

"Look Alan, I need to head out to the scene so…"

"I'm coming with you." Charlie's voice faltered as he spoke.

"No Charlie, I can't let you."

"Megan, Charlie consults with you all the time. The one time..." Alan was finding this harder than he'd ever imagined, "…surely it would help to have someone who knows Don so well. Someone who can predict where he may be." Alan stared into Megan's eyes. "Let him use his genius to help his brother when he needs it most, otherwise what's the point?"

Megan weighed up the risks with the benefits of taking Charlie to what could be his brother's murder scene. In the end, neither side won, Megan simply felt compassion for Charlie and knew that he'd want to be there. Of course, Don would kill her if he found out. _I hope._

oooooooooooooooooooooooooOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The vehicle was dusty, but other than that, nothing seemed out of place. The tracks indicated it had suddenly veered off the road. Keys were dangling from the ignition, which had apparently turned over until the gas ran out. The battery was dead. David looked at Megan. "I got nothing. If it weren't for that used coffee cup I'd swear Don had just cleaned it."

"Doesn't that strike you as odd?"

"Not really, I mean Don is methodical. He keeps a pretty tight ship. I've never known it to be messy." David looked across towards the patch of blood and tried to focus back on the case as though it were any other. As soon as he did he regretted it. Charlie stood rooted to the ground staring at the blood. "Really think this was a good idea?"

Megan looked up to where Charlie stood. "Yeah, I do. I think it'll help him process it if he has images to relate to. Besides, I haven't given up on Don yet, doubt you have, and I doubt Charlie has. If anyone can find him, we will."

"I guess, but y'know, Don really beat himself up after that last case. After what Agent Field did… I mean this past week, I don't think I've ever seen Don so bummed."

"Don's been through a lot worse and even though he doesn't necessarily deal with it the way I would, he does deal with it. Let's not forget Agent Field actually lost an agent in that case, and a good friend. We have a lot to be thankful that we're all still here."

"Except Don." Instantly David regretted pointing out the obvious on this occasion.

Megan walked across to Charlie and touched his arm gently. "C'mon Charlie, we're done here, let's go."

"It's not Don's."

Megan stared down at the small patch of dried blood that stained the brown earth. She wanted to believe Charlie and was dreading what forensics would tell her. "I hope so Charlie."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The car ride back from the crime scene would have been excruciatingly silent if any of them had noticed. Everyone was processing the information. Megan was profiling Don quietly, considering if there were any signs of depression. David wondered how Charlie could be handling this so well. He thought about his own family and what this would do to them, if it was him. Would they care?

Charlie allowed the data and numbers to roll around in his head, discarding those he didn't like, collecting any that he could use to prove Don was alive and well and drinking a beer in the craftsman.

A rabbit suddenly jumped onto the road and Megan reflexively began to swerve before realising that was the last thing you should do on a dark desert road. They'd spent hours meticulously going over every detail at that scene and they'd come up with nothing. It was almost as if Don had never been there. Apart from the blood.

"I've never known Don not to fight for someone's life." The rabbit swerve had pulled Charlie out of his thoughts. His comment drew David and Megan back into the world of the SUV. "Why would he be so flippant with his own? Clearly he wouldn't. It can't be Don's blood. He's out there somewhere. If it was his blood, he'd be here, somewhere, and so would who did this to him. Dead."

Megan couldn't do it, she couldn't crush Charlie at this moment. There was no body, nothing concrete to contradict him, for all she knew, Charlie was right, but he seemed to be ignoring one avenue of thought – that Don didn't want to fight this one, maybe because he initiated it. She couldn't be so cruel as to remind Charlie of the amount of blame Don had heaped on himself this past week. Still, that was certainly not your typical crime scene. If Don had done this to himself, Charlie was right. There would be a body there. As it was this scene posed more questions than answers.


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N – my computer is new and I can't format the text properly, only as html code which is kind of boring, anyway, if it's a bit awkwardly formatted that's why. Life is very busy at the moment so apologies if I don't update quickly – trust me though, I want to get this story out as quick as I can. Thanks for all your enlightening reviews, some of you have actually helped shaped the story with your comments – I've tweaked some stuff which I think adds a richness, I hope at least. Anyway if you're reading and liking and you left a review (which I really don't do this for reviews, just to get the story out so am not fishing for them) you're partly responsible!!_

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The folder fell onto Megan's desk, fluttering the paperwork already there. Megan looked up expectantly at David.

"Good and bad."

"How so?"

David opened the folder on Megan's desk and pointed to the report he wanted her to see. "The sample is too contaminated. Traces of equine, bovine, lepus, homo sapien..."

"Lepus?"

"Yeah, and I thought you were the brains of our outfit. I had to ask too. Rabbit. Oh and there's rattlesnake as well. On top of human blood."

"So basically, every animal that's ever died or been hit by a car to die on that patch of dirt is listed. What do they say about the human blood?"

"A."

"Don?"

David slammed the folder shut and sat down into a chair. "A."

"Still." Megan took off her glasses and saw Liz approaching out of the corner of her eye.

"Still," David sighed, "it's, what do they say?" He opened the folder to read from it, "insignificant traces."

"So Charlie could be right?"

"There's something else…" David was cut short as Megan closed the folder with the approach of Liz at the cubicle. "Hey."

"Hey. So, Sophie Field still hasn't been informed of Agent Field's death." Liz sat down in the only spare chair in the cubicle and sensed that she had changed the topic. David still couldn't sustain a significant eye contact with her. At least Megan tried. Still, Liz was happier not knowing what they were talking about at this stage. She was assigned to the Field case only and until she knew any better, Don Eppes was simply missing. There was no way Don was getting away with not having that final conversation with her. She was owed some explanations.

"What?" Megan picked up Liz's folder and opened it to peruse the report.

Liz looked towards David and sighed. _Strike that, it's damn hard. Not discussing the elephant in the room is going to kill me._ "She seems to be out."

Megan adjusted her glasses and finished reading the report. "So what are we thinking here? 'Nother victim?"

"It's possible." Liz leant forward in her chair.

"Well she's certainly not at work." David said.

"See that's the thing, she's assigned a day off today anyway." Liz flicked some pages and pointed to the part in the folder that mentioned this.

Megan took off her glasses. "Sophie Field takes time off without her husband? And isn't at home? What does it say about Agent Field's shifts? Were they off together?"

Liz looked across the cubicle to a pair of agents staring at her. Scratching her neck subconsciously out of irritation she stood up. "Not as far as we can tell, but still double checking. You know how it is here, put a form in for leave and they lose it."

A smirk formed on David's face, "just last week. Don swears…" He caught himself too late and looked up at Liz with an apology on his face.

"I'll go chase it up personally, give the admin department something to talk about. Spread the love around." Liz began to leave when Megan stopped her.

"Look, Liz. Don't, I dunno…"

"Thanks. I know. It's just strange being on the other side of the coin really." Liz began to walk off before Megan could finish.

Megan understood, she really understood. When she was kidnapped, she finally knew what it meant to be the victim and it was the most disconcerting thing an agent could feel. She had so much more empathy for the people they dealt with now, but that connection she shared, it was always going to be blocking her from doing her job now. Because now she couldn't lie, she knew they wouldn't fall for it. "Yeah, we know." David stared back at Megan's exclamation.

"So the something else?"

"Yeah, sorry."

"Know how I said at the scene Don's car was immaculate?"

"Yeah." Megan frowned and found Don's folder.

"Not so much. Traces of engine oil in the back of the car. There was something in there. Maybe a lawnmower or something."

"He lives in an apartment."

"Yeah, a question for Charlie and Alan. May be something. Maybe not."

"Anything is good at this point."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The bookcase simply stared back at him. Not speaking, not moving. Mocking.

Alan averted his eyes from its oppressive stare and his eyes inadvertently rested on Margaret's last photo album. It was too much. He got up from the armchair and walked out to the dining area.

The silence of the house was deafening and Alan didn't like the look of the table. He'd cleaned it only two hours ago. He hadn't slept since he had found out the news of Don's disappearance and in the unfolding hours he had cleaned and cooked everything he could think of. He'd even cleaned the cleaning gear.

Amita was covering Charlie's classes so he'd inadvertently done some of her washing. It wasn't until he was hanging a lacy bra on the line that he considered his faux pas.

Looking across to the mantelpiece was a mistake, his eyes rested on a picture of Don, in his baseball gear.

"Come." Charlie's hand rested on Alan's shoulder. Alan hadn't heard him come through the kitchen doors, he'd been so lost in his world of thought.

"What Charlie?"

"Come to the garage. Help me. Unless you've reconsidered my offer to call Millie?"

"No, definitely…" the phone ringing interrupted Alan and he gave Charlie a fatherly stare, "you didn't?"

"No, I didn't." Charlie picked up the phone. "Eppes household. Oh hey David – an update? What? No. Dad's hippy ways mean we operate a green one. You know, elbow grease and hard work. I'm all for it. Especially since he does it. What's this got to…oh. You think it means something? I'm coming down. No. This data could mean nothing, but if I leave it out." Charlie forgot what he was saying as Alan grabbed the phone out of his hands.

"David. Alan. The blood? Is it Donnie's?"

Charlie's face dropped. How could he have forgotten that? He'd been so wrapped up in proving it wasn't Don, he hadn't thought to consider the tests would be back and that they could answer his question far more elegantly.

By the time Charlie pulled himself out of his thoughts Alan had hung up.

"Charlie?"

Gulping Charlie asked the question he really didn't want to know the answer to. While he was scribbling expressions on the chalkboard Don was still alive. The few seconds before he asked his dad, Don was alive. But he knew he had to ask. "So?"

"Inconclusive." Alan slammed his hands down on the dining table and buried his head in them briefly. "What the hell does that mean?"

"Inconclusive! What do they mean? It either is or it isn't. I mean it isn't is it?"

"Animal…"

"I knew it."

"Charlie, I hadn't finished. Animal and A."

"Don."

"Yeah. Don. Your mother was the same. Last time I heard anyone talk about blood types…" Alan looked around in realization. Charlie had exited as soon as he'd said 'Don' and Alan hadn't even noticed. Alone with his thoughts once more. He took some comfort in knowing where Charlie was headed; straight to the FBI office.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

An orange glow from the setting sun showered itself over the drying grass in the frontyard, but it was strangely peaceful.

Liz and David clocked the vespa in the driveway as they made their way to the front door. A neighbour had said they'd seen Sophie in the house and so now the task of telling Sophie Field her husband was dead lay with them.

David knocked and Liz positioned herself. There was a slight twinge in her shoulder causing her to wince in pain briefly. She tried to put it to one side. This was the hardest thing she had to do. All her emotions concerning Don were in danger of flowing out in sympathy if Sophie Field broke down. It seemed cruel, but she was hoping shock would take hold first and then her denial would make it easier for Liz to keep her own emotions in check.

David gently touched Liz on the arm as the door began to open. She welcomed the gesture.

"Mrs Field?"

David and Liz walked inside and the front door was shut.

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Darkness from the night had seeped into everything in the many hours since it had risen.

Bloody and scraped, a hand slammed against the oak tree for support. It rested there for a few seconds before scraping itself off the rough bark.

Lights marked the final few steps. Familiar and warm. This was it. Finally, this was it. A cool breeze whipped up but couldn't tug at the tough strands of hair matted in place.

Left foot. Right foot. Ten, maybe nine more steps. Leaves and dirt were dragged in the shuffle. Whatever it was, whatever he knew, he knew it would all be over. He welcomed the light.

Minutes ticked by like hours but it didn't matter. He now faced his final destination. His hand slammed onto the wood and slid. Dried blood and dirt marked the surface, soaking into the grain.

More minutes ticked by like hours. This time, they mattered. His tired and worn body began sliding down the wood, the few splinters going unnoticed.

Half way down, the wood gave way – the door opened.

Alan Eppes looked down at the form collapsing in front of him.

"Donnie, oh my god…."


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N – sorry for the wait, hope this doesn't disappoint and whets the appetite…It's short, but the next one is very close by. I promise._

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Warm but rough. Was it hands he felt gently wrapped around his tired body?

He felt safe. Finally. Don didn't know why, but he knew he could relax.

There was a small amount of pain as he felt his body tugged into a warmer, softer environment. Suddenly, every pain he'd kept at bay in order to reach his destination, cried out for attention.

The intense and sharp hammering that radiated from the side of his skull was the worst. It dampened the ache in his side and feet; they were pathetic compared to his skull.

"…hear…"

Snippets of words filtered through to his brain, not quite registering their meaning. The only thing he could do was lean further into the source of them, hoping he wasn't required to do any more than that,

"..now…a second…ok…"

A slight jerk and Don felt the warm hands which held him release. His body screamed at the hard alternative it was now resigned to. His head seemed to fare better, with a softness underneath it which, warm as it was, did nothing for the pain that was beginning to throb in time with his erratic heart beat. Don never liked the sound of his heart. Unlike some, he found it disconcerting to know that each beat was one less for his life. Too many times he'd reached to hear it in other's necks only to come away empty handed. When he wasn't at work, he didn't want to know.

"..soon.."

The hands had returned but they were no longer warm, they were ice cold. The same icy cold clamped itself over his skull and he wasn't sure if his cry of pain was audible or not. He hoped so. It really hurt. Now he was no longer fighting the pain within his skull but the pain that seared from the outside. Despite this, the cold and pressure began to be welcomed and Don allowed himself to stop fighting. If this was it, he was ready to go. Sleep. That's all he wanted. To close his eyes and not feel pain.

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David stared at Liz who was steadfastly finalizing the paperwork. It was late. The events earlier that evening had been strange.

"You think?"

Liz finished what she was typing and looked back at David. "Let's face it, it's a dream result for us. I know it sounds callous, but give me shock over hysteria any day."

"Yeah I guess you're right. It's just different when you know the people involved."

"Yeah, I know." Liz pretended to go back to her paperwork so David wouldn't notice the slight crack in her veneer. _Don._ Resentment had been welling up in her for some time. Resentment at what had happened during the Field drug case. Resentment that she was being kept out of Don's case. And resentment towards the man himself - Don. _Why?_ She simply couldn't grasp why all this had to happen in quick succession.

"I guess you do. Look Liz…" David had leaned forward to open up to Liz, fill her in on some details of Don's case, for her peace of mind, when he was distracted by who he saw exiting the elevators. "What…the…?"

Liz flipped her head around to see where David was looking and saw Megan striding across to the cubicle where they sat.

"Now I know what Agent Reeves gets up to at night. Have to say ,I figured it was something a little more exciting than this." Liz attempted a smile as Megan approached.

"Don."

"What?"

"Yup. Don't know any of the details yet except Charlie is on his way home because Don just turned up at the craftsman."

"Are you kidding me?" David couldn't hide his elation.

Liz just sat there, stunned.

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"Dad? Oh god." Charlie rushed through the front door of the craftsman to find his brother lying motionless in Alan's arms on the floor, just inside the door.

Alan had placed a cushion under Don's head and was pressing a tea towel packed with ice against the side of it. He didn't know who looked paler, Don or Alan. Ok, it was Don by a long shot but Alan certainly wasn't looking so good.

"He's out, that's all…I think." Alan gently lifted Don's dirty and bloody wrist and felt for a pulse. It took a few seconds to find it, a few seconds Charlie could have done without.

"Paramedics?"

"On their way. I hope you don't think you're not important son, but I called them first. Evidently you were closer than they are."

Charlie knelt down beside his father and went to check Don's pulse for himself.

"Not the neck, the wrist. Less pain. In case he stirs." Charlie obeyed his father and let out a breath when he finally found Don's erratic pulse. Don seemed strange. It had been a long time since Charlie had seen his brother so pale and still. Sure he had slept here occasionally but he was a pretty vocal and restless sleeper. Don swore he always slept well, and no doubt he did, but Charlie always guessed that any woman sleeping with him may not have shared that state. Charlie never had the heart to tell his brother just how bad his snoring was. Mainly because any suggestion of it resulted in a cushion clipping his ear as Don's fine throwing arm met its mark every time.

"And he what, just turned up here?"

Alan looked away from Don for a second, up to Charlie, and then returned his attention to his eldest. "Yep. Thought you had forgotten your key again, took me so long to answer the door." Alan's shoulders shuddered ever so faintly and Charlie rested his arm on his father once more for comfort.

"San Diego to Pasadena – I don't even think that's possible for me. And I actually like walking."

"Yeah well, maybe he knew about the ribs I bought on Saturday. Who knows."

Charlie stared at Don's feet and hands. They were dirty and scraped with blood. Alan had clearly removed Don's shoes for comfort but one look from Charlie and calculations began to swarm around in his head involuntarily. Alan's words snapped him out o f it.

"Maybe you wanna call Amita. I'll be pulling rank and taking the seat in the ambulance. I'd be happier knowing you weren't driving yourself there."

"Hey I haven't had a problem since I got my licence back."

"I know, but you also haven't driven to hospital during that time to see your injured brother."

When Charlie didn't answer, Alan became irritated. "Have you?"

Charlie, pulled from his thinking, realized his faux pas. "What, god no. Hey, you know more about his life than I do."

At that moment both Alan and Charlie looked down at Don's body, still motionless. No matter how much they knew about his life, it always seemed they never knew enough.

With a sigh Alan gently removed the ice pack to see if it had stopped the bleeding from the wound Don had on his head. Charlie gasped but Alan didn't notice, all he did was whisper "What aren't you telling us this time?"


	5. Chapter 5

_Does a quick posting make up for a short previous chapter?_

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

White hot searing, followed by cold bone shaking chills._ Ouch._ It was only a tiny pin prick but the pain it generated was astounding. Everything hurt to touch and yet he didn't understand why.

_Clouds?_ It was as though clouds were blocking his view. Every thought that began in his mind quickly retreated to a corner and locked itself away so he couldn't access it. _Where is that pain in my arm coming from? _Don felt a little strange, muddled, more clouded. A coolness steeled through his veins and he thought he heard his father's voice. _What is dad doing here? Hang on, where is here?_

"saline.."

A bright light swamped his vision and then left, leaving him blinded temporarily. _Great, that helps._

He was in no way prepared for the final insult. In one foul move, his entire body floated off the ground. Something tugged at his arm and suddenly he was…_what? Moving? _ He couldn't be sure but he certainly began to feel a little sick in the stomach on top of the muddled pain that was dabbing itself around his body. _When can I just sleep?_

"…open…just….sir….can you?"

Too many words. Too many conversations. _Let me sleep._

Don tried his best to block out the annoying buzzes of conversation around him. Beneath his eyelids red and blue lights danced in time to a song he was humming to himself. Fuzzy though it was, he found it amusing and let himself become lost to the lights and…_what was that?..._the sound of…_my car?. _He was sure it was a siren. _Maybe Colby is driving?_

A warm hand on his cheek snapped him out of his clouded wanderings. It felt familiar. It was nice, comforting, but he could still hear conversation around him so he didn't want anyone to know. _How embarrassing._

"Donnie. Please..."

_Dad? Wow. Dad's driving my SUV? With the sirens on?_

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"He said ten minutes."

"Are you serious? We obeyed the speed limit and still made it here quicker."

"Yeah, well, I guess, we didn't have to worry about broken bones or head wounds. He's still getting medical attention so that's all that matters."

Charlie threw his hands up in frustration, realizing Amita was right. A heavy sigh helped deposit him on an uncomfortable waiting chair and Amita cosied up next to him.

Amita brushed her hand through Charlie's curls enabling him to see a little better. Charlie responded with a smile and moved his hand to her leg in a bid to say thanks.

Together, they sat in silence, the only communication suitable for the situation.

Liz noticed the gestures first, then the faces. Instantly she clocked that they weren't crying, they seemed impatient. Surely that meant good news.

"Liz, David – hey guys." Amita got to her feet as she saw Don's crew enter the waiting room.

Megan went straight for Charlie and planted her hand on his shoulder, "What's the verdict?"

"Paramedics need faster cars." Charlie raised himself from his seat and starting pacing again.

Amita looked across to Megan. "They're still en-route. Maybe 'nother 5."

David surveyed the anxious group and nodded towards Megan. "Think I should fill Colby in. I'll be outside for a tick."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The cool night air hit David instantly and he was relieved to be outside for a second. He'd seen enough hospitals of late to begin calling the nurses by their first names. Which wasn't so bad actually because there were a couple he wouldn't mind having look him over.

With a snap his phone was opened and the number dialled. "Hey to you too. Yeah, sorry. I forgot about the time difference." He paused while the voice on the other end clearly asked a question. "Yeah, it is. Don just turned up. I don't know details yet but I'll let you know as soon as I know. Maybe SMS unless it's real bad...yeah…sure…you too. Hey. Take care ok buddy."

No sooner had he shut his phone than the ambulance screamed to a halt at the emergency entrance. David could make out the panicked gestures of the medics and Alan slowly disembarking. David swore he could see the worry etched on his face despite the distance. Then he saw Don, wrapped in bandages and tied with tubes. He looked like any other patient, any other case, on the gurney. Of course, he wasn't any other patient or any other case.

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Alan's head nodded and jerked as he almost fell asleep, again.

"You're drooling." Charlie poked his father. It had been hours since Alan had stumbled into the waiting room to join the group. No one was really sure if Don was in surgery, checking himself out or in the morgue. Megan had ascertained that a bus had crashed nearby and several of the patients were in a critical condition. There was little chance of finding out information in a hurry even if any of the hospital staff had been loitering.

"We can call you guys. You don't have to wait." Charlie looked at Megan when he said this.

"Yeah, we can also stay. If that's ok."

"Of course. I don't know. Does it usually take this long?"

"Want to make sure he's getting his money's worth don't we?" Megan smiled, patted Charlie on the shoulder and then walked over to David and Liz. Megan could tell that Liz was desperately trying to distract herself from thinking about Don. "Why don't you fill me in on the Field case."

David got up and motioned towards the exit. They all began to wander outside, Megan nodding at Charlie as they did so to say 'come get us if anything happens'.

The cool air washed over each of the agents and they felt it was a little easier to breathe. "Sorry guys."

"Nah it's ok Megan, I needed some air too." David responded. Liz was staring back at the building with her arms tensed against a railing.

"Nah, I mean sorry I sent you out to do that tonight. How did Sophie take it?"

"Shock mainly." David began before Liz chipped in.

"Said she'd been to visit her mom in some home in Sacramento for the weekend, took an extra day. Apparently she does it once a month. She's the only child left in the family, cancer took a brother and father I think. Anyway the mom is like on her last legs and they reckon she might not need to come next month so this was like the last thing she needed." Finally Liz took a breath and continued staring back towards the hospital.

"Marcus doesn't go with her on these trips?" Megan was asking all the questions but had begun mirroring Liz by looking back at the hospital building.

"No, barely remembers her own daughter apparently, let alone him, so not much point." David noticed they were both looking at the building and paused.

"Right. Still, no calls? She doesn't think that's strange?" Megan spun around to concentrate on the conversation and distract herself from Don. This case helped them all in the distraction department.

"Not sure. She was in shock. It was hard enough to get that out of the woman. I guess. I don't know. I don't know what I'd do if it was my partner, the regrets, the what ifs, even if she had called what would it have done? Only ruin her last days with her mom and Marcus is still dead." Subconsciously David rubbed his hands together, trying not to think about his own what ifs. _What if I had offered to help Don on Friday like I considered? Would he be in that hospital right now? _

Megan clearly picked up David's thoughts. "Yeah. Classic default to lose yourself in your own re-writing of events, which is just pointless right? Nothing you can do. She got someone with her tonight?"

Liz finally dragged her eyes from the building and joined the conversation. "A neighbour offered. Think she's your typical sticky beak but she really didn't have anyone else."

"You think she'll do something?" Megan sat on the bench next to the railing.

"Not sure, don't think so. She was in shock but not out of her mind. She seemed pretty strong." Liz joined Megan on the bench and looked back towards the hospital building once more.

"Yeah, and so's Don. He'll be fine right?" David smiled down at them both, finally acknowledging the real reason they were outside.

"Hope so." Megan's hand gently patted Liz's knee and earned her a solemn smile from Liz. For the next five minutes they all sat there in silence, staring at the building, thinking.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

When Megan, David and Liz sauntered back inside Alan, Charlie and Amita were no longer in the waiting room.

It was half an hour before Amita came out to find them after David discovered the doctor had come out to speak to the family.

"Hey guys, sorry, didn't have time to come and get you before." Amita apologized.

"That's ok." Megan paused slightly before asking the next question. "What's the situation?"

Amita looked towards Liz, thinking about what she was going to say before continuing. "First up, he's ok. Few broken ribs, scratches y'know. Dehydration, and exhaustion on top of the gunshot wound." Another pause for everyone to take in what she'd just said. "It's only a graze. Looked worse than it was apparently. There was some bruising and swelling. The doctor reckons it was close range, but other than one hell of a headache the damage wasn't done by that."

"Damage?" Liz whispered.

"Yeah, he lost a lot of blood and the dehydration didn't help. He's pretty doped up on painkillers, antibiotics and being pumped full of juice to get him back to speed. They think though he'll make a full recovery."

"Oh my god." David collapsed onto a chair in relief.

"Assuming he didn't inflict the wound himself of course." Amita added and then joined David on the chair in fatigue.

"What do you mean?" Liz stood up straight and stared down at Amita.

"They're saying if it turns out he did this to himself then he'll be in a bit longer. Recovery won't be so…I don't know…guaranteed."

"Standard stuff. I'm sure he'll be fine. Thanks Amita. I assume Charlie and Alan are in with Don now?" Megan asked. Amita nodded and Megan continued. "I guess David, you and I should head home, not much point seeing him if he's out of it. Liz you want to stay?"

Liz stared at her feet and didn't know how to answer. She wanted to stay. She wanted to see Don. But did he want to see her? He certainly seemed to have made it pretty clear over the last week that he didn't, but now the tables were turned.

"Liz?" Megan prodded.

"Sorry, I'll come with you."

"Give our love to the Eppes will ya Amita? See you tomorrow." Megan grabbed her jacket and hurried the others out of the waiting room to give Amita some peace. Something was strange about all this and she needed some time to think about it. Now she could relax about Don being alive, recovering and hopefully being ok, she could concentrate on what was bugging her. How did a man who whose car was found outside San Diego end up shot and walking all the way to Pasadena?


	6. Chapter 6

_Sorry for the delay again, I think I am working harder than an elf at Christmas! I hope this is a longer chapter than the previous two. More than anything I hope it's satisfying so that it makes up for my tardiness…_

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

_Hot. When the hell did it get so hot in here? _"Liz?" His voice was croaky, dry and sounded like it came from someone else.

A coolness dabbed at his brow and confused him. _Charlie, when did you get air-conditioning?_

The heat resumed. _Charlie? Dad? Can you hear me? I said turn the furnace down.. too damn hot in here. Giving me one hell of a headache. What're you trying to do? Kill me?_

His finger subconsciously searched for something. _I'm sure I left that tee here. Dad, you'll need a 3-iron for that._

A pulse of heat bore down on him again. _So damn hot. No wait. Wait. I said on my command. _Flames licked the corners of his brain as a memory passed through it. Problem was, Don's memory was not willing to let him go back there, not at the moment. It had other things on its mind, like keeping this body alive.

He needed to forget to stay alive. That's all he knew and he held on to that thought.

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"It's utter rubbish."

"No arguments here. Here, swap this cloth will you?"

Alan tossed Charlie a cloth which he immediately dipped into a bowl of water by Don's bed and pulled out one that had already been soaking in it.

"They have nurses to do these sort of thing y'know."

"I know Charlie. Don also has a father who can do these sort of things. Besides, makes an old man feel useful."

A nurse walked into the room and brushed past Charlie with a smile. She began checking Don's vitals and took his temperature.

"So?" Alan enquired eagerly.

"It's still high, but it looks like it's slowly coming down. You're doing a good job. You'll put us out of work if we don't watch out." The nurse clicked her pen and wrote down some figures on a chart before leaving.

"So, what are you going to do?" Alan asked Charlie.

"Huh?"

"You said it was utter rubbish. Usually the next thing you do is tap out a few figures and prove your point. So how are you going to prove this?"

Charlie knew what Alan was doing. Distraction, always about distraction. In a lot of ways they were the same. Charlie used math to distract himself and it worked, sometimes a little too well, but it still worked. You can't worry about someone dying if you are too busy trying to prove they can't. Obviously when his mother was sick it didn't actually warrant trying to solve the unsolvable but it was the only way he could cope. Now Alan was trying to use Charlie doing math as his distraction. Alan's late dalliance with further learning had ignited a new respect for Charlie's math in him, but also a greater understanding, of Charlie as a whole. Charlie liked the way he needed to explain less and less of the basics to his father but more and more of the advanced stuff.

"Well simple ballistics and trajectory for a start. Some of my cognitive emergence work will help but…" Charlie paused and looked at his dad.

"But what Charlie?"

"But I was hoping to just ask him when he came round."

Alan smiled and continued ministering the cooling cloth to any unbandaged part of Don's brow and neck. "What if you don't like the answer?"

"Serious? One doctor maybe makes a throw-away comment and suddenly we're supposed to believe it?"

"Well firstly, he's seen it many times before, the angle of entry the burn marks on head and hands…"

"Not you too? Don fires his gun a lot, of course he'd have it on his hands."

"I know I know, hear me out. I don't want to believe it any more than you do but I can't ignore how he was after that last case. Liz and Colby. It hit him hard Charlie. You said as much yourself."

"I know all this dad. But he's dealing with this better than he used to. "

"Don't confuse attitude with emotion. I mean, what about this fellow who went mad in the abattoir. I'm not saying Don did this to himself, but I do think I have to be prepared for every scenario before he wakes up. Once that happens he'll need us no matter what."

A sigh escaped Charlie's lips and he looked towards the prone figure lying on the bed. Only half an hour before Don had been on the brink of consciousness but delirious and had whispered Liz's name. Clearly Don was thinking about the events that had occurred over the past few weeks. Maybe he could admit they had some bearing on his current state.

"I just don't believe it and I'm going to prove it. Don's felt responsible for things before, he sorts it out. Besides, he's done the impossible if it's true – and defied math. I have a lot of faith in Don, but more in math." Charlie looked down at his brother apologetically, "sorry bro. Explain to me how Don's car was found outside San Diego and yet he turns up in Pasadena?"

Alan looked across at his youngest. Such a great brain, and he was generally right, but sometimes he could overlook the obvious. "Hitchhiking?"

Charlie's face dropped then lifted. "Even better, then someone would have seen him and we can…" Before he;'d finished the sentence he was out the door, on his way to the FBI, determined to help piece the puzzle together.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Three nights. Where do we even start?" David tossed a folder on top of a pile and stared back at Megan with tired eyes. Barely a few hours of sleep would have to sustain him for the day. With Colby missing in action and Liz not on this case, they were seriously in need of an extra pair of hands.

"Spoke to Alan." Megan responded through a yawn.

"Oh yeah."

"Yeah, he said he's doing ok. Still not with it but they're hoping he'll start coming round once the fever dies down."

"So not likely we'll be getting any clues from that corner any time soon."

"No, and yet in three days someone must have seen him."

"Right. Well I guess the best way is to start…"

"…from Pasadena and work our way back." Megan looked up to see who finished her sentence for her and looked into Charlie's big brown eyes.

"Wondered how long it would take you to appear down here. Sure you shouldn't be at the hospital? I am sure you have a million ways to help us but I'm thinking it's going to be a lot of legwork initially. Knocking on doors and the like."

Charlie looked at David and then back to Megan. "Dad's with him, I can do more for him here."

"Sure you're not just trying to avoid asking him when he wakes up what happened?" Megan suspected Charlie was much better at facing his family's mortality than when his mother died, but he still idolised his brother and wasn't sure that if the answer was unsavoury what it would do to him, let alone Don. Whether he admitted it or not, Don needed Charlie's constant belief in him because the job simply didn't allow for many people to always be on his side.

"I don't know but it doesn't matter, I can still do more good here."

David raised his eyebrow in surprise and admiration at Charlie's maturity. Had he been working with them that long?

"Right then, what can you do?" David tossed Charlie a very thin folder. The folder barely contained more than 5 reports in it, nothing substantial. Charlie opened it and flicked across a few pages, scanning for useable data.

"This is it?"

"Yep." David went to grab his jacket when a figure approaching caught his eye. "Liz?"

Liz tossed David a folder motioning for him to open it and then spoke to Megan. "We've got a problem?"

"What? How so?" Megan moved across to David's shoulder and tried to see the contents of the report he had opened. "Are you kidding me? This is the last thing we need."

"What?" Charlie's voice reminded the group of something they'd momentarily forgotten, he was still standing there.

"It's the Field case. Coroner's report states that Marcus Field couldn't have killed himself. This is no longer a simple murder-suicide. It's a shooting spree."

"So what are we thinking? The wife had an affair and Marcus went down to confront the guy?" David asked.

"Maybe he went down to see Sophie, before she headed up to see her mom, got caught in a fight. Drugs maybe? Drug deal turned sour - has been known to happen." Liz's tone was quiet at the end, everyone knew what she was thinking.

"How 'bout you two go back to Sophie Field. See if you can get some more info from her. Try and suss out maybe if that other agent, what was his name? Crowther. See if his wife or any of his team blame Field for Crowther's death." David had pulled off his jacket before Megan had finished the sentence, ready to join Liz on the new developments of the Field case.

"Hang on." Liz and David both stopped to look at Charlie. "What about Don…Don's? What about the fact that whoever did this to Don, to an FBI agent, is out there still?"

Megan gestured to Liz and David to continue on and she placed a hand on Charlie's shoulder directing him towards a chair. "Don's alive Charlie, the Field case takes priority. Y'know without Colby we're seriously understaffed."

Charlie knew this was going to be her response. It was true. They never had simply one case to work on. They could never devote all their resources to one case, they had to juggle them all the time. Still, he didn't care, this was Don after all, a guy who had saved more asses than he could remember. Somehow he thought that should be a priority.

"And before you say it, he is our priority," as if Megan had read Charlie's mind. "Don'd understand and besides, we can't force you to work on any one case. You can prioritise right? So tell me. How do you think Don made it from San Diego to yours without a car?"

"Dad thinks hitchhiking. I dunno. Don just…he's smart y'know."

"I know." Megan smiled at Charlie.

"And a pain in the butt. There's no way he wouldn't have found a payphone to call to get a lift from one of us."

Megan's smile turned into a small laugh. "Right."

"Unless he didn't want…" Charlie gulped, unable to consider the rest of the thought.

"Nah, he walked to your house Charlie. His childhood home. He wanted to go home. Someone who doesn't want, well you know, it wouldn't make any sense for him to go to the family home unless he'd changed his mind."

"Or forgotten." Charlie said solemnly.

"How 'bout we concentrate on finding out if anyone saw him before we jump to conclusions. Any formulas in your bag for the way an injured man would try and walk to Pasadena?"

"If there aren't any, I'll create one."

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That damn fire just kept crackling away under his skin, making him itch. What was it he had done? _Let someone down._ _No. No. They let me down. Nup, maybe both. Maybe they didn't hear me when I asked to turn the furnace off. Dad?_

Charlie was not very good around the house. To be fair Don would be worse, so it must have been his dad who could fix the furnace so he could stop sweating and just get some sleep. It made him feel sick. _Will keep that to myself though. Imagine the jibes._ A slight giggle trembled through his body as he thought about how Charlie would probably poke fun at him if he saw him like this. _Able to leap tall building and stop bullets, but crippled by a bit of balmy weather._

Don never liked the heat. OK so it was more the humidity he didn't like. Living in Albuquerque had cemented that oft-said comment. _Boy, am I sweating._

He could feel water droplets run down his brow but then…._what the? Is someone? _ They were quickly wiped away and a slight coolness replaced them._ What is going on?_

Questions danced around his brain but a deep painful throb broke them up and Don could only remember that he wanted to remember what he last thought. _That coolness, again. Nice. _ _I hate the heat. Has someone lit a fire…fire. Liz. _

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Staring down at his eldest son Alan began to think about Don's behavior over the last few weeks. He'd been stressed, overworked and then it all blew up on him. Agents had died and he knew Don blamed himself. He'd always blame himself. Alan guessed it was simply what made him such an excellent agent, the responsibility he took. All the bucks stopped with him, he accepted them all. He could only imagine how the internal FBI reprimands probably cemented these feelings. _Damn FBI._

Don stirred, moaned and Alan thought he said 'dad' but it was so quiet he wasn't sure. _That's right Donnie, I'm here._

Sleep was pressing down on his eyelids but Alan tried his best to defy gravity. A yawn slipped out nonetheless. "C'mon Don." Alan patted his chest and wondered whether he felt slightly cooler. Surely the drugs were doing their business. _Please want to wake up. _

"Why don't you let us take over for a few hours. You look like you need a break."

Alan looked up and realised he hadn't heard the nurse enter the room. _Not a good sign I guess._ "Nah, I wanna be here when he wakes up, in case he's confused."

"I can guarantee he'll be confused, with you here or not. But it matters little, it's unlikely his temperature will drop enough in the next few hours so I say he won't be coherent for a while yet." The nurse began to check Don's vitals, gently peering under the bandage on his forehead to see how the head wound was healing.

"Maybe, if it's alright I could just rest here."

The nurse looked up from Don's wounds and smiled. She looked down at the chair Alan was sitting in, not the most comfortable, but it was a lost cause not appeasing him. "Of course. If he wakes we'll make sure to wake you up."

"Thanks." Alan leant back in the chair and let gravity finally win as the nurse checked Don's blankets.

The last thoughts were about Don, the last time he'd seen him before now. Don was silent and distant and Alan had assumed he'd had an altercation with Liz. Charlie was explaining some mathematical discovery to Amita, who was engrossed. Alan was interested but his attention had been diverted by Don.

A call from the FBI meant Alan didn't have a chance to weave his fatherly charm and extract any information. Soon after Charlie spilled to Alan that he thought Don and Liz had broken up due to what happened in the drug case. Alan distinctly remembered that the first he thing he thought was 'stupid Don'. Those words haunted him now for their harshness and he wished a thousand times he could take them back even if they weren't spoken. Why hadn't he been there for his son when he needed him?


	7. Chapter 7

_Why Christmas is called a holiday I have no idea…still managed to not be so tardy this time…a miracle._

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"I…no. How could you? I mean…even think that. I loved Marcus, and only Marcus."

Liz lowered her eyes in embarrassment leaving David to hand a tissue to Sophie Field who was now sobbing.

"I'm sorry Mrs Field, you understand we have to ask these questions, we want to know what happened to your husband." David meekly offered.

Sophie stood up and threw her arms around, a couple of tissue falling to the sofa in the process. "Yes I know your processes. All I've ever known is your damn procedures and protocols and rule books. Some days I felt I knew it better than half of Marcus' rookies. So yes, I know you have to ask these damn questions but I also know I don't have to damn well like them. I haven't even buried him yet. I am nothing, nothing, without him. I've lost the love of my life and I…" another tissue, more tears, "…I don't know what I am going to do now he's gone. Do you? Is there an answer for that in your little black book of procedures? Is there anything there that tells you how I can pick up the pieces of my life and go on?"

David opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by the resumption of what can only be described as the beginning of a grieving widows tirade.

"No there's not. Your rule book ends when you walk out this door. Do you think this is going to end for me when you walk out the door?"

"Mrs Field of course we know it doesn't…" Nice try Liz, but Sophie still had some rant left in her.

"No. You don't know. Marcus came home every night, every night, with work. I didn't just share my life with Marcus, I shared it more with the FBI, and you don't know how that feels to be part of the FBI life without ever choosing it. You can never know that. To know that the FBI is still here and Marcus isn't!" And with that, the most voracious of the tears began to fall.

"No we can't Sophie. But we can understand what it's like to lose someone. We all have friends, family, affected by our life and their life with the FBI. We see, we're not blind. We just want to make sure that we put this person behind bars so they can't do this to someone else. Surely you don't want this to happen to someone else?" David stared back into Sophie's red eyes hoping he'd flicked a switch in her thinking to get her to help.

Sophie stared back at David and then to Liz. She wasn't sure, she couldn't be positive as the tears clouded her vision, but was the agent actually a little teary herself after David's comments?

"Ok. Fine. I just, enough with the marital problem questions…and before you even think about it he wouldn't even dare think about cheating on me. He loved me. We were in love."

Liz cleared her throat in a bid to clear her emotions. "How was Marcus after Crowther's death?"

Sophie thought for a second, running over the past few weeks in her mind, before finally answering. "Empty. It was like. It was like he was responsible. He always took the blame when someone died. Said the buck stopped with him. This time it was like it defeated him. He had nothing left to give."

David and Liz looked at each other as if mentally playing rock, scissors, paper.

David lost. "Do you think anyone actually did blame him for what happened?"

"You tell me, that's your job. Speak to the people who were there, I don't know. Heck, even I began to believe it was his fault. I mean how many people were injured besides Crowther? Like 3. If Marcus could have taken his place he would've. I don't think anyone on his team didn't know that, but y'know, how well do you ever know somebody? What they're capable of?"

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Megan leaned against the nurses reception area turning off her cell. A male nurse brushed past her reading some notes from a chart. As he walked he almost collided with someone else diverting Megan's attention to the noise.

"Larry?"

"Sorry, oh dear, I apologize profusely." Larry said as he dusted himself and the confused nurse off.

"Don't worry 'bout it," said the nurse and left, quickly.

A smirk from Megan took Larry by surprise and he was offended. "Hey, not fair, he was the one with his nose buried in some clipboard, not me Ms Reeves. I know exactly what you're thinking."

"Now how can you, or anyone, know exactly what I was thinking? I'm not even sure I know what I was thinking and I'm pretty sure you haven't invented anything lately, let alone something that could read minds."

"Now if I had I would naturally have to maintain ultimate secrecy to prevent the cut-throat and renegade underground science mob selling on my discovery before I could properly test it…if I had invented something to read your mind of course, which I haven't because I wouldn't be able to tell you. It's all very metaphorical and semantic isn't it."

"Yes Larry, and cute in a bumbling way."

"See, I did know exactly what you were thinking. Never underestimate the power of simple observation. All the great discoveries come about by simple observation."

"So how come you haven't observed that you're standing on my foot."

Larry looked down and was horrified to see he really was clumsily treading on Megan's boots. Before he could apologize once more Megan took him by the arm and motioned him towards Don's room, smirking.

"C'mon. I'm guessing you're here to see Don too, so let's do it."

For all the noise they made outside and entering the room neither Alan nor Don stirred. Megan lifted her fingers to her lips and reinforced the need to not wake the sleeping beauties. Alan looked exhausted and pale but compared to Don it was easy to miss.

Megan pulled a card out of her bag and left it by a bunch of flowers situated in a corner. David, Liz and herself had signed a get well card for him for when he woke up. Colby had given David a brief message to relay as well and David had included it on the card. _Read this soon Don._

"Hey."

"Sorry, didn't want to wake you. We were just going to leave this card and go."

"No, no, don't be silly." Yawn. "Stay, please stay if you want. The nurse should be round in a second anyway."

No sooner had Alan spoke than a nurse magically appeared at the door.

"See."

Megan pulled out a chair next to Alan and sat on the armrest motioning for Larry to sit with her while the nurse went about her business.

"Isn't Charlie with you?" Alan enquired suddenly, remembering that it had been quite some time since he'd seen his youngest.

"Oh he went home to do some work for us. Said he needed his chalkboards." Larry raised an eyebrow at Megan. "Amita's there, he needed her help."

"More like wanted, but good, he needs to keep busy and there's not much he can do around here, not least until Don wakes anyway. So. Any update on that?" Directing his comment towards the nurse Alan leaned forward to look at Don and see if he could notice any change.

"Actually yes. His temperature has dropped nicely, we can start pulling back on these drugs and maybe we'll get some sense out of this fella instead of rambling talk of fire, furnaces and golf."

"You've heard eh." Alan grumbled.

"Yes, although the fact he knows my name's Liz is quite encouraging."

Alan looked at the nurses badge which said E.Parkes.

"The E stands for Elizabeth."

"Ah, well…"

"Relax Mr Eppes, I'm well aware there are many people in the world who have the audacity to use my name. I'll forgive them. But whoever this faux Liz is, she sure is a lucky gal." She winked at Alan and left.

Alan turned to Megan, "Speaking of, where is Liz? I did, I dunno, think she may have dropped by."

Megan stared at Don when she responded, trying to not give Alan too much to read into. "We've had a development on one of our other cases, David and Liz are busy on that. We're all going to be pulling double shifts at this rate. Speaking of, I need to go back to the office. When Don wakes tell him we're all thinking of him… and we want him back on board as soon as possible. We're sick of the extra work. I'm particularly not fond of having to be the boss, who knew it was so much work?"

Alan smiled as Megan left then looked over at Larry, "Feel free to linger Larry, could use someone to talk to who can actually string two words together."

Larry looked over at Don, a man he felt he shared some qualities with, a man he felt was slightly an enigma. Larry romanticized that he too was an enigma to many. It was part of the reason he was besotted with Megan, she appreciated the oddities rather than dismissed them. "Gladly. Besides I'm very keen to hear if you made any headway on that assignment of yours, the robot."

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_Nothing like a pounding headache, furry mouth and general disorientation to wake up to in the morning_. Don frowned as he tried to work out exactly what morning it was. _Friday? Should I be at work? Damn alarm._

Don panicked. _Have to get up and outta here. Imagine being late again, I'll never hear the end of it. Ow. Man._

That damn head of his pulsated with a very un-dull ache. _Woah._

"Easy, easy."

_What? Dad? _A pressure was pinning down his arms.

"Where…" _Woah, where did that voice come from? _

"Hospital Donnie, just relax, you need to calm down."

"Hosp." _Why is speaking so damn hard? _It's all the words he could manage to get out and so he struggled against the pressure pinning him down, needing to assess the situation. _Hang on…_"Why?"

"Well now I was hoping you could tell me that. But you need to calm down first ok." Alan's voice was calming in itself but his next words seemed distant. "Nurse, thank goodness, seems to be alert but agitated."

_Nurse? Is that what you're calling Millie now? Kinky. Oh wait…hospital. _Don was still having trouble holding on to his thoughts for any more than a few seconds and this caused a second bout of panicking.

"Agent Eppes, Don can you hear me." One of his tightly clamped eyes was prized apart and then a light assaulted his senses.

"Hey," he croaked.

"Now that I've got your attention, I need you to calm down for me alright. We've got some powerful medicine being pumped into you and if you continue to struggle you'll really mess things up. Not concerned for you mind, more concerned for the mess really, and the cost. These aren't the cheap drugs we're giving you. Only the best for our nation's finest."

"Drugs. I remember…"

"Shh, don't worry about that now Donnie, can you open your eyes for us, for me." The tone in Alan's voice was pleading.

"How…long?" Don said this as slowly as he had opened his eyes. An opaque vision of his father engulfed his view. He could see right up Alan's nostrils and it made him feel dizzy.

"Dizz…"

"Yes Agent Eppes, I expect so." A brunette blur now filled his dad's position in his vision.

"Just a day." Alan's comment confused Don and he turned his head back to his father. An enormous pain radiated from his skull clawing it's way through his entire body. A pinch in his torso from the movement constricted his breathing as a new pain emerged from there. He closed his eyes and winced. Then he remembered why he'd done it in the first place, "huh?"

"Yes, I wouldn't advise doing that again. I was answering your question, remember. How long? I assume you meant how long have you been here, the answer is a day."

"Oh. Which _(day)_?" _Gee, didn't think my voice could sound any worse…_

"Shh Agent Eppes, how 'bout you play suspect for a while and let the doctor ask you the questions for a bit?"

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Liz winced in pain as she slammed the car door shut. She grabbed her shoulder for a second while David was climbing into the driver's side.

"You Ok?"

"Yeah," she lied as she pulled her seat belt across herself. "Every now and then, y'know."

"Yeah." David replied before putting the keys in the ignition. "Let's get outta here. You hungry? I'm thinking of grabbing a burger on the way back."

"Are you serious? Didn't you see the amount of meat in her fridge? Thought you were going vego after that abattoir experience?"

"Oh yeah, thanks, maybe just a hot dog – everyone knows they're not really made of meat."

Liz laughed and leant back into her seat. It had been a long day, but she was glad of the workload. Kept her mind off Don and the guilt of not seeing him. Still she doubted he would notice even if he was awake.

"Y'know I think he would like to see you."

"Huh?"

"Don, despite everything that's gone down, he doesn't hold on to things, he'd want to see you."

"Is this the same Don Eppes we're talking about? Doesn't hold on to things? I mean sure girlfriends slip through his fingers but I don't know, sometimes, I mean have you ever tried to argue with him, the guy is more stubborn…" Liz bit her lip, shook her head and looked across at David who was concentrating on driving despite his weariness.

"Yes he's stubborn, but I dunno, you know him better than I do, but he comes round eventually. Besides I don't know if I could do what he does, y'know make the decisions all the time every time, answer to the brass, go back and have to tick us off if they tell him, torn allegiances."

"Of course you could David. You'd be brilliant at it. I guess it's more a question of would you want to do it. For Don to want to do it, if he does indeed want it, I guess you trade the bad stuff because the rewards are greater."

"Now how did you get so zen Ms Warner? Hanging round Megan and her Larry musings too long huh." David smiled and stole a quick chance to look to Liz to reassure her. "If you're so zen you should know Don wants to see you."

"Yeah, I know, you're right. It's just… that last case, Agent Field, Don – it's all been too much too quick, haven't had a chance to stop and breathe let alone think. I mean Sophie Field, you heard what she said. How could you argue with her. She's right and yet I feel like I'm betraying her by asking those questions. By keeping details from her."

"I know what you mean. So what about a salad then?"

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Liz and David parked the car in the FBI carpark and noticed Megan turning into a space at the same time. They waited till she was ready and they headed up the elevators together.

"How'd it go?"

"Good." Liz replied automatically. "I mean, not good but we got a bit more info."

"That is good."

"Yeah, Sophie reckons Marcus always went out drinking with Agent Crowther on Fridays. She'd normally work back late and hopefully make it home after he'd drunk away the problems of the day." David responded as they closed the elevator doors.

"Gotta love that solution for someone in the drug squad." Megan quipped.

"Tell me about it, at any rate, she had left to see her mom early that afternoon and she assumed Marcus would just be going home." David finished.

"So she knew he was blaming himself for Crowther's death and she left him alone all weekend without a phone call?" Megan queried.

The elevator dinged for their floor and they piled out in unison as Liz continued the conversation. "She's certainly putting herself through the ringer for that one. I mean this is one feisty lady, she was pretty angry with the FBI for her situation, but I think it was a knee-jerk reaction to the fact she feels so responsible for this. I genuinely believe that she loved her husband and no one else."

"Right. So we're thinking that wife having an affair angle isn't going to lead us anywhere. What about you David, you got any thoughts?"

"Same as Liz. We've seen her twice now and she is really going through the guilt over this. Shock, anger, hysterics. I don't think it's an angle that's going to prove fruitful."

"So we need to concentrate on why Marcus was at the abattoir that night, really nail down something concrete to follow there…" Megan stopped short at the sight of someone sitting in her chair.

Liz and David stood rooted to the spot as well, jaws slightly dropped. David shook his head and was the first to burst from the ranks by offering a hand to Colby.

"Good to see ya man." David began to bring him into an embrace until the crutches leaning against the desk reminded him that might not be a good idea. "Don't get up for us will ya."

Colby laughed and looked across at Megan, his smile fading as he saw Liz. "I heard you guys were a bit short staffed. I'm certainly not going to be jumping off any tall buildings but I can definitely trawl through paperwork."

"Well we've got plenty of that." Megan pointed to Colby's desk which they had used for the backlog of late.

"Nice. So anyone seen Don lately?" Colby directed this towards David mainly, avoiding eye contact with Liz for the moment. Megan's cell trilled at that exact moment and she stepped back to answer it.

"He's going to pull through fine they say. Nothing new since I last spoke to…hey, you didn't come out here just cos I didn't call enough didya?" David smirked.

"Nah man, my sister is an awful cook, I figured I was safer dealing with crims again than her meatloaf." Colby smiled and then looked across to Liz who was leaning onto Don's desk trying to listen to what Megan was saying on the phone. "How you doin' Liz?"

She jerked her head round and tried her best smile, "good. I'm good. Tired, but good."

Colby didn't get a chance to respond as Megan slammed her cell shut. "That was Alan. Don's awake."


	8. Chapter 8

_Merry Christmas to one and all. _

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Curls covered Alan's red engineering manual.

"You should be careful, soon as Don's better Alan's gonna be looking for that again," Amita said as she tapped the book Charlie's head was resting on.

Charlie didn't respond instantly. He was still staring back up at his chalkboard, thinking. Amita cocked her head, realized that Charlie was in the middle of a problem and looked at the markings on the board.

"So this is the problem huh?" she said as she pointed to an expression dusted onto a corner of the board. Charlie shook his head from the book and stood up.

"I just can't work it out. I don't know if it's not enough data or what but it…well you can see, it's not exactly going to solve itself and I haven't got any more."

Amita pulled Charlie in towards herself and stared into his eyes. "It may not solve itself but you'll definitely solve it." Tenderly, she kissed him and then released him, walking over to some of his files to see if she could help. "So, this is the beginning? When Don left the office on Friday night. That's where you think it starts?"

"Yes and no. Obviously it started before then but that's the only time I have data for." Charlie pulled out a file Megan had handed Charlie before he'd left the office earlier that day. "CCTV has him in the elevators at 9:03pm, in the car park at 9:06pm and driving out of the FBI at 9:12pm. After that I've got nothing. Without knowing any timeframes from there out I can't equate his destination or even guess where he's off to." Charlie threw the file back on to a pile of stuff. "Why'd he have to react so badly to that last case, if he'd just come here after work, like he used to, just…I dunno, I thought we'd moved on from…."

Amita pulled Charlie in to another embrace to subdue the anger he felt. "This isn't your fault Charlie. You can solve any math problem and math may be life, but people just aren't that easy to exlain. So how 'bout we do something useful instead of this 'if only' scenario you're letting take over. Do we know anything like how much gas Don had in his car?"

Charlie looked at Amita amazed. "My god, I hadn't even…you're right." He kissed Amita quickly and then proceeded to pack up a couple of files into his knapsack. He stopped and kissed her again before his cell trilled at him. "Dad, hey, how is he? What? Thank…yeah, Amita and I will come down now."

Amita stared back at Charlie, whose mood was getting better and better by the second.

"Don's awake. Don's awake!"

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"Just…leave it. Ok."

"Look who woke up like a bear with a sore head."

That's exactly how he felt. A sad, tired, sore bear. Cranky as hell and just wanting the prodding and questioning to cease and desist so he could go back to hibernating.

"Sorry Agent Eppes, but you will have to stay alert for a few more questions." The brunette he'd seen earlier through an opaque haze had cleared up. She wasn't half bad looking and wore a cheeky grin. He didn't want to like her but he did.

"Define a few."

"Don." Alan's reprimand made the bear growl. "I doubt Dr Erskin is particularly happy about dealing with you either, but just get it over and done with."

The doctor, a mean looking middle aged man with greying temples sternly looked back towards the patient and continued his line of questioning. Don suspected he was checking for something more than the physical but he was damned if he was going to give the guy any fodder.

"Agent Eppes, as a man of procedure I would hope you would respect ours, even though you are still feeling considerable pain. I appreciate your patience but I do have a few more questions for you and then we can try and get you something for that pain."

Don grimaced, just hearing the word pain made it intensify, particularly his head. A hand reached up instinctually to ease the ache but Alan caught his hand before it reached even half way. He felt so weak it was embarrassing and he tried to hide it.

"…the last thing you remember?"

_Huh? _The doctor had been talking but Don had managed to block him out. Luckily the tail end gave him enough to work out the question.

Don thought, leaned his head to the side that didn't hurt so much and tried to sift through a haze to actually think. It was quite tiresome.

"Don?" Alan prodded and caused Don to turn to look at Alan, sending another pulse of pain through his body.

"Ok, ok. Look, um. Not sure. Give me a sec." A few images flashed through his mind, but he couldn't place them in any logical timeframe.

"Anything that comes to mind, I know it's probably difficult to string any meaning to them at the moment." The doctor's voice was calm and supposedly reassuring but Don couldn't help but dislike the guy.

"Donnie? Anything." Don looked into Alan's eyes. There was something he was hoping…_no, waiting…_for Don to say. More images flashed to mind. Liz naked in his bed…_yeah, not sure that would be helpful but I'm enjoying that...Eppes, your dad…._

"Remember dinner with you guys. Dad and Charlie." Don clarified for the doctor. "Talked 'bout playing a game of golf. Yeah. Golf. When the case was over." Don thought about the case he was on. A drug ring they were working with another team on. He really concentrated to think about it. They were waiting out at a…a flash of red, heat, extreme heat. "An explosion? Was anyone else hurt?"

Alan and the doctor looked at each other.

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"Dad." Charlie nearly knocked Alan over. He hadn't expected to see him outside in the waiting area. "What's wrong, why aren't you in with Don?"

"Calm down Charlie, he's alright. Hello Amita." Alan caught himself, shook his head and looked at Charlie and Amita. "Well, sort of."

"Whaddya mean? Sort of?"

"I've just been talking to the doctor. Apparently it's normal but I thought I better warn you."

"Warn me? What, about what? What's normal. Dad?"

"Sorry, sorry. He doesn't remember. He doesn't even remember the end of the last case. He remembers an explosion and he thinks that's how he was hurt. He's now worried about everyone else on the team. Typical."

Charlie frowned at the last comment.

"Sorry, I'm just frustrated. He's back, we have him back, I can live with a few week's missing from his memory but why can't he just think about himself for a change. He's in hospital, and still…he's worried about everyone else."

"Dad. A few week's? That's normal?"

"Yeah. Actually no. It's not atypical though. The drugs he's been on, the trauma he may or may not have been through. Dr Erskin says it's normal at any rate. I think I work it out to be about only 10 days anyway."

"Can I see him?"

Charlie began to walk towards the door when Alan grabbed his arm. "Wait, just. Look, he doesn't remember about Liz and Colby ok. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing but at this stage I think it's best if we don't mention it. Do you know if Liz has any plans to visit?" Alan's voice cracked at the end but he tried to ignore it.

"I dunno Dad. I hope so." And with that Charlie walked in to see his brother for the first time in over a week, leaving Amita to wait with Alan.

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"They think what?" Colby's face was one of incredulity. "No way."

"They said it's a possibility." Megan corrected whilst maintaining the speed limit for the vehicle she was commanding. Liz sat in the back seat next to David, looking out the window and trying not to get included in the conversation.

"Pretty unbelievable huh," David said.

"What's going on eh, it's like our whole department is slowly being picked apart. These last few weeks have been crazy for sure, still, never in a million years would I think that anything could happen to Don. I mean ever."

Megan sighed, "Yeah it's pretty unreal. But, he's on the mend, so it's gonna be cool."

"Yeah." Colby said and then straightened his leg with both hands.

"You ok?" Megan asked looking away from the road for a second to the greying cast on Colby's leg.

"Yeah, gets kinda itchy underneath sometimes that's all." Colby finished adjusting his leg and rested his head back against the seat as Megan pulled the car into the hospital.

"Showtime." David said as he climbed out of the back.

"Yeah, showtime." Liz repeated to herself quietly.

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"Well, just glad you're gonna be ok. You are gonna be ok aren'tcha?"

"Course Charlie. Fine. Best drugs money can buy they say." Don closed his eyes and licked his lips. Within seconds Charlie had offered Don some water to quench his throat. "Thanks."

"You know that there's about 10 days or so you can't remember right?"

"What, no hours, minutes or seconds? Poor show Professor. Thought you could have calculated it for me by now."

Charlie frowned, looked at his watch and offered, "10 days, 16 hours, 33 minutes and 15 seconds….14 seconds."

Don laughed then winced at the pain it caused to his ribs. Charlie cocked his head in bemusement. "Either you want to know or you don't?"

"Thanks Charlie. Either way I doubt I'm gonna remember that either, sorry. Dad seemed pretty upset about it. Thought he said I'd been in here a day so clearly, the explosion…wasn't it? Right?"

A silence hung in the air for a second and Don drank in the brief reprise from having to talk or justify what he could or couldn't remember. He had an uneasy feeling about not being able to remember almost two weeks of his life and he wasn't particularly interested on dwelling on it if he didn't have to. _So why does Charlie have to?_

Don finally broke the silence. "So you gonna tell me what happened then?"

"Do you want to know?" Charlie asked, suspecting his brother was only asking to get him out of the room and not through curiosity. He couldn't believe Don didn't really want to know but it certainly seemed that way.

"Yeah sure. Just tell me ok. How'd I end up here?"

_That silence again. _Charlie was acting as if he was going to be breaking the law if he spilled the beans.

"If you're not supposed to. It's ok. I don't need to know."

"What? What's wrong with you?"

Don almost laughed till he remembered his ribs. _At least I remember the important things..._ "Um, sore ribs, sore head, hospital bed. Do you want me to write you a list?"

"I'm serious Don. There's almost two week's of your life missing and you aren't in the slight bit interested. In those days something happened that meant you ended up in here. Not to mention how many years you took off Dad's life…and mine. We were worried about you. It's not a joke to us so don't disrespect us by…by…being flippant."

"Woah, slow down there buddy. I want to know ok. I'm tired. I'm sore. I'm confused and I just don't have the energy to fight you right now. You telling me what happened isn't going to make it any more real for me, but give it your best shot."

Charlie sat there, upset and confused. He'd argued himself into this corner and realized that he couldn't tell Don anything. There was that whole other case before Don's…_Don's case. _He gulped and composed himself. He had no idea what he could tell Don. But what scared him more was that he had no idea what he could ever tell Don. The data was simply missing.

"So?" Don prodded Charlie's arm with his own tube-laden appendage.

"Nothing."

"Whaddya mean nothing. Are you going to tell me or what?"

"We don't know Don. We thought you were going to be able to tell us."

Charlie wasn't sure but for a second, a brief second, he thought he saw fear in Don's eyes. Then it was gone, replaced by a grimace of pain as Don laughed.

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Charlie walked out of Don's room exhausted, confused and scared. He saw Amita and Alan talking to Don's team and he walked over.

"Hey guys."

"Hey Charlie."

"Colby? What the…how the hell are you?" Charlie felt bad he hadn't recognized Colby instantly.

"Look kinda different with this outfit on." He tapped his cast with his crutches and smiled. "I'm fine."

"How was he Charlie?" Megan asked.

Charlie looked at Alan and then across to Don's team. "He's a little tired I think, but the same bratty older brother I remember. In fact he's annoyingly in good spirits."

"Glad to hear it." David said through a suppressed laugh.

"What does he remember?" Liz stepped forward and avoided eye contact with Alan.

"Ah, hard to tell. Looks like he remembers that drug house exploding in the Field case but nothing after that. His memory of that's sketchy at best."

"The doctor said it'll take him a while to orientate himself a cohesive timescale of events but anything after that explosion is unlikely to ever be clear." Alan offered the group.

"Ten days?" Megan queried.

"Seems like a lifetime ago though." Colby suggested.

"Can I see him?" Liz asked. She'd been holding back the question. Afraid of asking it because she was afraid they'd say yes.

"Of course. He'd love it." Alan pointed towards the door to Don's room.

"Don't know about that." Liz said as she slowly walked towards the door.

"Liz, just…" Alan cleared his throat sheepishly, not certain it was his place to tell Liz this but wanting to protect his son more, "he doesn't remember… y'know… maybe that's a good thing."

"Don't know 'bout that either," and Liz was through the door.

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Don's eyes were closed and he seemed peaceful as Liz walked through the door. _Ah Don._

The broken shuffling of her feet as she considered whether to stay or go stirred Don and his eyes cracked open a little.

"Liz."

"Don."

She sat in the chair next to him and looked at him for the first time in a while. So much had happened and he didn't remember it? Would he sense it? Would he acknowledge it?

"Hey, what's up?" Don asked quietly. His voice soft and obviously tired.

"Hey what's up yourself?"

"Remember an explosion. Glad you're ok. Was worried for a bit."

"An explosion huh. Do you remember about me and Colby?"

"You and Colby? What're you talking about?"

"Don we haven't spoken since…well, since the day of that explosion."

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_A/N – next chapter hopefully will begin to answer at least some of the questions you may or may not have…_


	9. Chapter 9

…_and a happy new year. _

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"What?" It was a shock to hear this. It was almost like his head throbbed harder in sympathy.

"So you don't remember."

An image flashed into Don's mind, the explosion, fire and then…a feeling. _Fear. _He could remember feeling this gut-wrenching sickness at the thought of…

"Liz?"

"Once the medics arrived I never spoke to you again. I called. Sometimes I think your voicemail message is chattier than you. My first day back at work was the day you went missing. How do you think I felt?"

Don felt miserable, he'd caused so much pain, he couldn't explain himself and now he had gotten himself in to some kind of mess that meant Liz was worried about him. The last thing he wanted was to be a burden to someone. He didn't have the energy to defend himself nor the inclination to want to.

"I'm sorry. You deserve better than this."

"No. Don. Don't. I deserve what I want. I want you. I know it's hard for you, but…" Liz looked into Don's pale face and realized this wasn't the time or place. "…but you need to rest. I've…I'm just glad you're still here."

"Ditto. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you."

"I do. Saw it first hand. You back off, retreat into your shell and then go missing for three days." Liz almost cracked a smile.

_Three days? No one's mentioned that detail before. _

Don winced as the wound on his head sent out a sharp stab of pain. There was a deep intake of breath as he tried to ride it out.

"You ok? Shall I get a nurse?"

Don took a couple of seconds but eventually found his breath. "Nah, it's…fine. Colby? How's he?"

Liz studied Don carefully, not believing that the pain he was in was exactly manageable. Without him noticing she pressed the nurses button as she answered his question. "He's outside. You can see him if you want. Back from medical leave just because of you."

_Great. One more thing I've screwed up. Did I just say that aloud?_

"Don, you didn't screw up." _Ah yeah, damn. "_At least not in terms of you going missing. Maybe not talking to me after Colby and I nearly got blown to pieces was a little screwy, but the missing bit I can't really blame you for…can I?"

"What do you mean by that?"

Liz didn't have a chance to answer as the nurse found her way to Don's room. "You ok Agent Eppes? What do you need?"

"What? Need?" Don tried to work out what the nurse was saying when Liz interjected.

"He's in a lot of pain from the bullet wound I think."

"Oh, we can fix that." The nurse took Don's chart from his bed and ticked a couple of things off. "You're due anyway."

The nurse walked across to his drip and administered a vial of pain relief. Liz was watching the nurse's actions but Don was staring at Liz.

"Bullet wound?"

Liz looked back at Don realizing that no one must have told him what his head injury was from. She wasn't sure she should have been the first. "Ah, yeah. Close range too. That make you remember anything?"

Don looked into Liz's eyes as the pain medication slowly numbed the senses in his body. _Nice._

"Nice? Me or the drugs?"

_Again? I thought out loud again. Better shut up Eppes._

"Yeah, shut up Eppes, you're so loquacious."

The edges of Liz's face began to blur as Don's eyelids became so heavy he couldn't keep them open anymore. _Was that….am I humming?_

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"You guys keep logs right?"

"Of course Charlie, the techs would have looked at that stuff, they'd be trying to do the same sort of thing."

"Sure Megan, only I can do it quicker, and better and not between all the other cases I have to do. It wasn't in the data you gave me anyway so I'm guessing they're still getting to it."

Megan smiled at Charlie and walked away to make a call. Charlie turned around to face Amita. She smiled back at him and pointed to Don's door as Liz came out.

"Can we see him now?" David asked as Liz came out, not wanting to pry her for any details of what may have gone on between the two of them. Don had acted poorly after Liz and Colby had been injured in the raid but only David knew why. Don had let one or two comments slip…and he knew his boss. Don blamed himself for what happened. There had been a communication error between the drug squad and their own. Marcus Field had ordered the execution before Don had given the all clear from the south side.

Don was mad as hell but it turned out to be an equipment failure. Don had said 'not clear' but the mic on his lapel had only picked up 'clear'. Marcus assaulted and Don was still round the side as Colby and Liz were checking the rear exits. The building was wired and it blew. Colby was thrown clear and ended up with a compound fracture to his leg. Liz had been forced into a wall damaging her shoulder and receiving a slight concussion. David had never seen Don like it before. His hand had actually trembled as it went to check for a pulse. The relief on his face was quickly replaced with anger as he realized that Field had ignored his order.

Don had rushed round to the front of the building where the drug squad were. All evidence had been blown sky high and he almost lost two of his agents – he'd almost lost Liz. He was ready to let fly when David held him back and pointed to a body off to the side. Agent Field was standing over it, staring. It was then that Don calmed a little. Agent Field had made a mistake but he had paid for it with one of his own agents. Don was the lead agent in charge of the raid. He ultimately took responsibility for the error. Heck he'd even said it was his fault to David because he shouldn't have said 'not clear' at all, only spoken when it was 'clear'. A day later the drug lord they were after turned up dead, apparently butchered by his own men.

"Sorry he's out for the count. But you can go in." Liz responded shaking David from his thoughts on Don.

"Hey maybe he's less taciturn in his sleep anyway." Colby offered.

David followed Colby in to Don's room, trying to keep the crutches from making too much noise. Liz sat down next to Alan who looked like he too was about to fall asleep. Megan finished her call on her cell and walked over to Charlie. "Half a tank."

Charlie immediately got out a notepad and scribbled some calculations as Megan joined David and Colby in Don's room.

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"Charlie whether you agree with them or not, they're there. Observe them."

"I'm trying, I need to get home before I lose this train of thought, you don't understand."

"Yes Charlie I do understand. I understand I should have gotten Amita to drive rather than my son the leadfoot."

Amita smiled from the back. She was tired. Alan was tired. Charlie was wired. He'd worked out some figures to ascertain where Don could have gone after he left the office. It was the first time in days that Charlie felt useful again. He would prove Don didn't shoot himself and he would find out the things his brother wasn't able to remember. He had to.

Alan closed his eyes again and sighed.

"What's wrong Alan?" Amita asked.

"Nothing. Nothing. Just tired is all."

"So Liz mentioning the bullet wound to Don has nothing to do with the sigh?" Charlie interjected.

"And here I was thinking you were absorbed in all your math to be hearing that conversation."

"I multi-task, I am a genius you know."

"Yes I know. Yet a genius who can't figure out how to keep a car to a speed limit."

"Hey I never said I was perfect. Quit changing the subject anyway. You're upset with Liz am I right?"

"No Charlie, you're not right. I'm upset but not with Liz. She wasn't to know. Don had to find out. I'm just tired. Tired of worrying about you both. Worrying about your lives and hoping that I might outlive you. Just tired Charlie."

Charlie dared to look across at his dad while stopped at a red light. The lines in his face seemed to have deepened over the last few days. Don certainly was responsible for some of those lines, but he hadn't really thought about how many he'd caused his father over the years.

"Well those lines give you character so Don and I give you character, stop you from being bland."

"If you say so." Alan closed his eyes and tried to sleep away the terror of the last few miles of Charlie driving was going to cause him.

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Amita yawned before she could get the first word out. "Come to bed. Finish this up in the morning."

Charlie whipped around quickly to see Amita dressed in a very sexy nightie. _Tempted. _"Sorry." A few scrapes of chalk, a couple of numbers and Charlie stood back and looked at his work.

Through sleep crusted eyes Amita couldn't miss the findings. "What?"

Charlie slunk down on to the couch in disbelief.

"But then…" Amita walked across to the chalkboard and Charlie watched her as she traced her finger around the key points marked out on the map. She turned around and looked at him. "You've taken into account any idling or traffic jams here, right?"

"Yeah I got some figures of the traffic density at that time. How many red lights he would have encountered." Charlie got up and pointed at one expression, "This takes into account any extra stops. But this location keeps coming up as the most likely, followed closely by this. I mean, of course, there's so much I don't know, so who knows but there are no coincidences in life. This has to be the key."

"There's nothing you can do about this now that can't wait till the morning. How 'bout I drive you in to the FBI first thing." Amita put her arm around Charlie's chalky neck and guided him towards the garage door, to bed.

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"Sleep well Agent Eppes?" That chirpy brunette nurse. _Doesn't she ever go home?_

"Not really." Then Don remembered something. "Hey, this wound. How bad is it?"

The nurse stared down at the patient, clearly in a little pain and trying his best to string his words together. "I'm not a doctor."

"Ah, we all know nurses are the real brains of the medical profession. Spit it out. Seems to me that this is something the doctor should tell me about – why I'm in here."

A smile flashed down at him before she replied. "Ok Mr Flatterer. Close range bullet seems to have bruised your skull. You're fine. It's not really the reason you're in here. You are dehydrated mainly, you lost a lot of fluids from the wound and well, whatever it is you got up to, you seem to have worn yourself out making it home to your dad's place – on foot."

Don pretended not to be surprised by any of this information but his mind was doing cartwheels. _On foot. Shot at close range. _"None of that sounds like me."

"Huh?"

"Walking. Being shot. Charlie's the walker, more of a sprint to the finish kind of guy me. And to be shot at close range. Doesn't make sense. I'm a trained agent."

"Yes but even Superman has kryptonite. What's your weakness Agent Eppes?"

"Pretty women." The nurse smiled back at Don's comment as he continued, "especially in nurses outfits."

"That's technically sexual harassment. I'll give you a freebie cos of the drugs and you've lost your mind for a bit but the next one will be taken down and used against you."

Don smiled back. He had so many questions and this nurse seemed to be the best way to get information without having to worry his family or team. He wanted to keep her on his good side. "So when do I get out then?"

"Well now that depends."

"On what."

"On how well you behave. Seems to me the notion that you shot yourself isn't really flying, you're a little too cheeky to be depressed Agent. I'd say in the next day or so."

_Shot myself. Depressed? _Don thought the nurses words over as she finished her duties and left the room. _So that's why everyone's acting a little – off. _Don mulled over everything he'd just learnt. He'd walked to his father's, they think he was depressed, they are skirting the issue of him maybe doing this to himself, and most of all, they're avoiding the subject of what happened.

There was no doubt about it in Don's mind. He had been a victim of crime. He shook his head, not wanting to think the next thought.

_Maybe I did do this to myself. Anything to get a break from this merry-go-round of FBI life._


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N sorry for the delay! New Year, new chapter._

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"Hang on, explain this part again." Colby shuffled his leg under the table to make himself more comfy for the lecture that was about to be repeated.

"He left here with half a tank. The car was found with, what…" Charlie opened the folder to make sure they could see for their own eyes too. He found the page, turned it and pointed it out to the agents. "…almost three quarters full. Somewhere he had to fill up with gas and he more than likely used one quarter of a full tank to arrive here." He pointed to the desert on the map.

"We get that Charlie but with the car found outside San Diego, that could literally be anywhere." Megan was tired of the circles they seemed to be going round in. Charlie's assertions were rarely wrong, they just needed to know how they fitted in to this case and it wasn't exactly clear to them. To Charlie, who was intent on proving that his big brother had not done this to himself, all seemed clear.

"No, not at all Megan. I've taken in to account that with half a tank he would not have filled up in LA, unless his destination was the desert in the first place, if so then he would have filled up at the closest point to the FBI before heading off. Which would be this station, checking the CCTV should be easy. No, if he was not intending to end up at that desert then this," Charlie circled the place on the map his computer was projecting, "is the most likely destination."

David got up and looked from the map back to the room of agents. "Based on these equations." He tapped the screen where the mathematical symbols meant little to him.

"Expressions." Charlie corrected and was about to continue but Amita realised that his ability to explain this was becoming lost in the emotions he was feeling for his brother.

"What Charlie's done is take in to account many factors. Weather, Don's usual routes, friends, family, time of day, traffic lights, traffic flow, heck what he even usually eats. All these factors have been given a value and this is what we've concluded."

Megan stood up and looked at Colby who, in the wake of Don's reappearance, was a welcome set of hands for all the cases they were juggling now, including Don's. "Do you realise what you're saying Charlie? The doctors said what, Don's wound was most probably sustained on the Friday evening. We know that Sophie Field was in Sacramento. Marcus Field was murdered with the other victims at the abattoir, not his home. For Don to be at Agent Field's house that evening, you are actually implying he was the last one to see him before he died. Do you realise that?"

Charlie stumbled out of his chair. "No, that's not. No I'm not. This is what the numbers tell me. I…maybe Don…Look I don't know but I'm telling you Don's disappearance has something to do with that case."

David looked at Megan and Colby, they were all thinking it but he was probably the only one who was going to say it. Charlie had become too emotional, he was always emotional but he just wasn't as confident in his findings as usual. He looked tired. He looked drawn. Some would say he looked desperate. "Charlie, you're avoiding this I know but none of this explains how Don's vehicle, and traces of Don's blood, were found in a desert outside San Diego. Could it be the connection you're seeing to this case is because of Don's reaction to it? By your rationale Don went to visit Agent Field, Agent Field went to the abattoir to be killed and Don drove himself out to a desert, shot himself and walked to Pasadena. I mean this is getting more and more absurd. I mean are you sure you have enough data, don't you think maybe more data could change this?"

"David, I know you all think I am too attached to this but trust me, I don't let my emotions get in the way of the numbers. Of course more data here would be useful but where am I gonna get it from? Don can't remember. He can't remember what happened to him. I…" Charlie's voice cracked…"I owe it to him to remember for him. And the only way I can do it is by the numbers. All I'm saying is there is a link between that last case and this…"

Megan interrupted Charlie. "What if it's that Don was so depressed about what had happened that he decided to take his own life? Do you want Don to remember that? Whether it's true or not Charlie, you're gonna have to assess what you feel about that if it turns out to be the case. You can't avoid one theory just because you don't like it."

Charlie collapsed back in to his chair and put his hands in his head with a sigh. Amita crouched next to him her arm round his waist for support. After a few seconds he brushed his hair out of his face and looked back at Megan, David and Colby. "Y'know what. It doesn't matter. He's back. If I thought Don did this to himself I would just let it go but I don't think he did and neither, do I suspect, do you. So I'm not gonna stop until I found out who did this to Don. Even if it is simply for my peace of mind knowing that whoever did this won't come back and finish the job."

Charlie got up, picked up his laptop and with Amita following behind, headed out into the bullpen. He saw Liz sitting at her desk checking several files searching for something on his way out. _Maybe she understands. _Charlie began to walk over to Liz.

"How 'bout you see your brother," Amita suggested.

"In a second," Charlie said as he approached Liz.

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Megan looked round to David and Colby, unsure what to say. Charlie was rarely wrong but he was emotionally attached. There was no way she could avoid that.

It was Colby who broke the silence. "I guess the thing is, even if Charlie's wrong, it's an angle we have to seriously investigate. Let's face it, that doorknock provided no evidence. Nobody saw Don walk to Charlie's house, at least no one who is coming forward. No CCTV has uncovered Don's vehicle route that night. Don doesn't remember and quite frankly the Field case seems to be the priority. If Don is in any way related to what happened to Agent Field we need to investigate it as a priority, not for his case, but for that one."

David sighed and looked at Colby then across to Megan. "So?"

Megan sat down next to them. "So. We bring in Liz. Fill her in David. Colby you should go over any paperwork that Don was doing on his last night. It should still all be on his desk. The techs have looked at some but there's still plenty to go. See if there's anything in there."

David stood up to go talk to Liz. As a parting comment he wasn't sure he should say it, but he also wasn't sure he could avoid it, "So who's gonna mention the elephant in the room?" Megan and Colby both looked away when David mentioned it. "If Charlie's right, then there is a chance Don shot Marcus right? Who's the agent who's gonna have to chase that lead down?"

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It stung for a second and then all Don could feel was relief. The IV was out, hopefully he'd be next. Still, not having pain meds on tap meant his ever nagging headache was going to be extra stubborn. He closed his eyes while the nurse finished the rest of her duties with his body and tried to think himself pain-free.

"Is it working?"

Don's eyes flashed open at the new voice in his room.

"What?"

"Is it working? Whatever it is you're thinking about?"

"Not really. Headache. To be expected though right? I mean a gunshot wound to the head does that right?"

"If that's your subtle way of saying 'why didn't I tell you about your wound' then the answer is simple."

Don adjusted himself in his bed so he could look at his father better as he tried to defend his actions. "Really, go on."

Alan placed his jacket over the chair next to the bed and sat down slowly. "Because, Don, you need to tell us what happened, not the other way round."

"Touché. Megan huh. She's right, anything you tell me will be inadmissible should I actually be required to have a day in court. Still you and I both don't think that's very likely do we?"

Alan frowned at this comment from Don. "Why would you say that?"

"Dad. I'm not the same guy I was a year ago. I mean I am, but I don't know, therapy breaks down walls, you discover things about yourself but it also makes you less tough. Things get to you more. Maybe this case was too much. Agents died. I was responsible. Even Charlie would say the odds are in my favor for doing this to my…"

Alan cut him off, partly because he didn't want to hear Don talk like this and partly because he was wrong. "Actually your brother is possibly the only one seriously considering you didn't do this to yourself. It's not an option as far as he's concerned. I have to say I agree with him. I don't believe it."

"Why? Because I walked all the way to the craftsman? Or because you don't want to think of your son as being weak?"

Alan shook his head and stared directly into Don's pained eyes. "Because I know you. This isn't you. No amount of numbers from Charlie needs to convince me of that. Besides, there's nothing weak about that kind of act, but you're a cop Donnie. You protect people, you've spent your whole life doing it whether or not it's been your job. It's your nature to protect people. Something like that would hurt the people you love. You'd never do that."

Don thought about Alan's words. It didn't make him feel better. _If only I could remember. _He wanted off the merry-go-round and he wasn't going to get it talking to his father about it so he changed the subject. "So where is Chuck? Think a guy like me would maybe get a few visits once in a while."

"He's…"

"…Whipping up a storm on the chalkboards right. Maybe if you can ask him if I can stay at his tomorrow I might get to see him."

"Tomorrow huh. Already."

"Yup. Bed rest and being waited on hand and foot. Looking forward to it."

"Well it's Charlie's house now, I'm just a boarder. Not sure how good he is at the whole waiting on hand and foot bizzo."

"Well he'll learn. He's had to have paid attention over the years."

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Alan's coat was halfway on when he bumped into Megan leaving Don's room. "Megan, here for social or work reasons?"

Megan patted Alan's arm. "Social mainly. See how he is. But…"

"..but you never stop working do you. Don't have to tell me, I'm the one with the workaholic son who seems to have many ways to get information out of people. I don't know how he found out, but he knows a lot more than I do I think. Not that he remembers it mind, that's still a worry."

"I know Alan. It would certainly help us out too but we can't push."

"I know I know. Hey, look, I'm not sure, he seems a little – off. I know he's been shot and god knows what else but maybe you can wheedle some of what he's feeling out of him. I tried but I think because he's gonna be spending the next few week's at Charlie's he's just taking it slow."

Megan smiled at Alan, "It is Don Eppes we are talking about. International Man of Mystery. Certainly living up to his name on this one, but I'll give it a go. Actually it's Charlie I'm more worried about."

"What?"

"Yeah, he seems pretty stressed," Alan opened his mouth to protest but Megan waved a hand at him to say she wasn't finished. "Hear me out. Obviously he's gonna be stressed but what I mean is he is desperately trying to help but I don't think he's using his math for good here. He's manipulating his data to prove his point. I'm sure he knows he's doing it but he's ignoring some big questions. Well less ignoring and more avoiding. He has to be prepared to hear the truth if it ever outs, not just what he wants to hear."

"I know, he'll get there, he just needs a bit more time. But have you considered maybe you're too detached from this? Charlie knows his brother. You know Don. Do you seriously think he is capable of something like that?"

Megan knew Alan was avoiding using the word 'suicide' and she respected that. "Don's killed many people in his time, don't you think it would be easier for him to kill himself than others?"

Alan just stared back at Megan. Megan herself hated the comment but knew it was the truth. Any one of them would rather die than have to kill but they detached themselves and knew they weren't killing they were saving lives every time they took a life. It was not an easy way to live.

"He didn't do it Megan, that's what I know."

Megan watched Alan leave her heart breaking to think that if Don didn't do it to himself there was a possibility he had killed another agent. She would try and avoid Alan in the future, these conversations were getting harder and harder.

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"My favorite boss, how are you?"

"Favorite, I'm your only boss." Don winced as he pulled himself up into bed, his ribs screaming at him and his hand instantly going to his side once the movement was completed.

Megan handed him a glass of water. "Here, would this help?"

"Thanks. Not really. If it was vodka maybe."

"So."

Don stared back at Megan, he knew why she was here but he was intent on getting more info out of her than the other way round. "So, third or second degree tonight. I have to tell you I am feeling a little sore this evening so be kind to me."

"That'll be the day. So anything come back to you? Anything you can share with a colleague and not a family member?"

Don sipped more of the water and leant back into his pillow. "Flashes. Nothing specific. Mainly more about the Field case I'd forgotten than anything. So you wanna fill me in on this whole 3 days without Eppes business. None of you noticed me missing?"

Megan squinted at Don wondering where he'd got that information. "Remember that?"

"Not in my statement so you know that's a no. Spill the beans, if you don't tell me I'll find out so it's best to come from you where I know it's accurate."

"Hmm, well some of us have lives and don't think about work on our days off. You conveniently went missing over a weekend when we had no new cases so can't help you on that one."

"So what leads do you have?"

"None."

"Nothing huh. So it's looking most likely I slipped on my glock in the shower."

"Something like that."

"Well as long as there's not much paperwork I'm happy."

Megan stared at Don's response. Something was off with him, Alan was right. Why would he be so ready to accept that he did this to himself. That was not Don Eppes. He was too proud to do that let alone admit it. "Your brother seems to think otherwise, he's creating more paperwork than I ever thought could happen."

"Charlie."

"Yes, Charlie. He's on the brink Don. He's so desperate to prove you…that someone did this to you…I have to say there's a lot that can't be explained…but Charlie's gonna make himself sick, or drive us crazy. You need to speak to him."

Don crumpled further into the bed. _Charlie. _They got on better now than ever before but it was always such a weight to have to negotiate his AND Charlie's emotions in cases. To do it for a case about him, he wasn't sure he was up to the challenge.

"At least make him consider the possibility. A possibility you seem too eager to accept yourself mind you. Between you and Charlie you're both impossible."

Don sighed and looked at Megan. His head ached, his ribs throbbed and he was bone tired. The only thing keeping him going was knowing that the next day he'd be out and people couldn't just drop in on him in his pajamas any time they wanted. Also he'd have pajamas that had a crotch, that was kind of embarrassing. "What do you want me to say Megan? Everyone has such faith in me. My dad. Charlie. My team – excluding present company of course." Don smiled and crinkled his eyes at Megan so she knew he was joking through his labored breaths. "I don't get it. I'm not supposed to get injured, I'm supposed to stop people being injured. Agent Crowther…well, here I am in a hospital and the thought of…the thought of someone doing this…to be a victim. Charlie doesn't understand that. How can I be an agent if I'm a victim? Everyone seems to think that it's the better thought, that someone did this to me. To me, that's the worst case scenario. If I did this, at least I could deal with it. But….well I think you know."

Megan did know. She understood. Crystal Hoyle had changed her life forever. As an agent she was less detached. She still didn't know if she was better or worse at her job, only that she did it differently now. So yeah, Megan knew what Don meant. "Boy, didn't expect Don Eppes, THE Don Eppes, to be giving up that sort of info. Therapy has helped."

Don gave Megan a scarcastic smile. "So you gonna tell me what this has to do with the Field case?"

Megan stared back at Don. How the hell did he always know? The man wasn't an agent, he was a super-agent. No wonder Charlie couldn't explain everything when it came to Don.


	11. Chapter 11

_Sorry for the delay. Busiest time of year for me with deadlines and paperwork but it's so good to be almost clear of it and be able to come here and play with these characters. I hope you enjoy this chapter._

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Chalk hung in the air creating a fog around Charlie that made him seem ethereal. Music played in the background and he kind of danced between paperwork on the table and the chalkboard. As he stood there staring at the board with the end of the chalk holder gently tapping at his mouth, Amita quietly entered the room.

"Alan just left."

Charlie looked around at Amita finally and placed the chalk on the table with a sigh. "You think I should have gone?"

"No, but Alan does." Amita moved closer to Charlie and examined some of his findings on the board.

Charlie sat down at his desk and looked up at his work. "Dad. He does what he does best and…"

"…you do what you do. Still," Amita pointed to the chalkboard, "doesn't look like you've made much progress."

Charlie picked up a manila folder and closed it placing it on a pile with the rest of them. "No, Liz gave me some of the updated Field case files so it's a start."

"Are you sure you should be doing that? I mean couldn't she, couldn't you, get in a lot of trouble?"

Charlie stood up. He was slightly angered by the comment but quickly realized what Amita was doing. "Neither Liz nor I care about the trouble. We care about Don. Besides I have made progress. Sort of."

Amita cocked her head and looked back to the board. She pointed at some numbers off to the left. "This. But that's just…"

"I know, it's what I've already said, but now it's saying it clearer. Don went somewhere that evening and it wasn't to the desert outside San Diego. Mathematically he could not have walked back from there, at least not in the condition he was in. Not…and still be alive. No. And with no eyewitnesses, no positive ID's on hitchhikers or anything it's just… That piece of data it just doesn't fit. I've been running around trying to see how it fits and it just doesn't. Maybe that piece of data is wrong."

Amita looked to Charlie with concern. Seeing was believing but how do you convince people what you saw was wrong? "Charlie, you saw the car yourself. How can it be wrong?"

"I don't know. But I trust my math more than I do my eyes."

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"Easy. Thanks Liz. Can you…" Alan gestured towards Charlie's car.

Liz took a bag and keys from Alan. "Sure thing. You sure you gonna be OK…alone?"

"Ha ha Agent Warner, just remember who signs your paychecks." Don adjusted himself in the wheelchair so that the exit would cause the least amount of pain to his already throbbing ribs.

"Oh now suddenly he remembers. Seems a little convenient doesn't it Alan? The way it comes and goes when he wants it."

Alan smiled back at Liz as she continued to open the car doors ready for Don's trip home. "I've always found it convenient. At least I know they've given me the right son to take home, no mix-ups there."

Don began to stand up with Alan's help and Liz rushed round to help from the other side. She almost thought she could feel the heat of his embarrassment at needing help radiating through his clothes.

"Easy I said." Alan gently lowered Don into the seat and pulled his legs inside as Don reached for his ribs, closing his eyes as he did so. A few worried glances were all Alan gave as he watched his son in pain. Both the mind and the body were pretending to be better than they actually were, but Alan took comfort in the fact they were trying.

"I'm fine now. Just get me outta here."

Liz looked over to Alan and nodded. She lowered herself into the back seat and thought about what Charlie had said to her yesterday. She'd been feeling the same way as he had, isolated from the team, a little in the dark. Only, Charlie felt like the rest of the team also weren't listening to him. To be fair, what he was saying didn't make a lick of sense to an agent who was trained to deal with facts. Telling her to ignore the fact that Don's car was found in San Diego seemed counter-intuitive. But one thing he did say made sense – that Don walking from San Diego was impossible. He was right and yet he was wrong. She was sure there was a mathematical expression for just that state of being. _Maybe more Larry's arena. _Anyway she agreed with Charlie that she'd gently prod Don about what he remembered, especially about the Field case.

It had been mere minutes from talking to Charlie that David informed her she was now also working on Don's case and that they were looking at any links between Don's and the Field case as a way of solving both. She knew they'd listened to Charlie, but she also knew that a theory was fine for science but meant nothing to an FBI case. Someone knew something about what happened to Don. Somehow his car, and his blood, ended up outside San Diego and somehow he made it out of there alive, with no tracks to suggest he walked. If it hadn't of been Don, it sure would have been one hell of a mystery to solve. As it was, it was typical to think that if Don was injured, it sure would be anything but normal.

"You need help with your seatbelt?" Alan's comment broke through Liz's thoughts. She noticed Don was clumsily moving the strap around and adjusting the tautness of it.

"Nah." Came the reply from the grumpy patient but that didn't stop him playing with it.

"Here." From the back seat Liz handed over a cushion to Don. "Put it under the strap. Should stop it digging into your ribs."

"Thanks." Came the reply, followed by a faint smile from his eyes.

"All set then. Let's ditch this one horse town eh."

Don rested his head back onto the seat and closed his eyes. He hated it when anyone else drove. At least his dad was reliable, unlike Charlie, but this was still going to be an overly cautious, and more importantly, slow, ride home. He wasn't looking forward to it.

Liz noticed what he was doing but she wasn't going to let him get off this lightly. After the way he'd treated her when she was injured, she was getting some payback time. Besides, once he made it home he could escape. As it was now between her and Alan, this was perhaps the best opportunity they had for grilling him for info.

"Remember anything new today Don? I mean now that you haven't got all those drugs making you fuzzy?"

Don answered without opening his eyes. "You on the clock or off?"

"Donnie don't be rude, after all she's done to help you today."

Don opened one eye and gave his father a glare. He swore he could see a faint smirk on his face. "Which reminds me. Where's Charlie? I mean this is his car and yet where is the little genius. Not that I don't appreciate your help Liz, just a little strange is all."

"Nice deflection of subject there. I think we're dealing with a pro at avoiding questions Alan. Where does he get that from?"

"Definitely his mother. I always said lawyers don't study they're born like that. Manipulative…"

"Yeah yeah. Keep it up and I'll join Larry in that monastery with a vow of silence."

"And you think we'd notice the difference?" Alan turned on the windscreen wipers as a light rain began to fall.

"Ha ha. You know it hurts to laugh. You gonna be this funny all the way home?"

"Seriously Don. Your case is going nowhere. You're our best shot." Liz's serious tone changed the atmosphere in the car.

"You can't solve everything Liz. You know that. Heck Charlie knows that but damned if anyone can stop him. So how much did he pay you to grill me on the car ride home?"

Don was good, but she knew him too, it was a pretty safe bet he was clued on to everything that was going on and she knew how to play him. "Certainly can't solve anything if you avoid it, that's for sure. But you conveniently forget that's how you dealt with seeing me injured, I'm on to you now, you're not doing me over twice."

"Nice. A domestic AND in front of my dad. Gotta love this."

"She's right Donnie. You can't avoid this. How much have you forgotten and how much don't you want to remember."

Don shook his head and regretted the movement. He winced and used that as a sign for his dad and Liz that conversation was over. _You don't wanna know. _

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"You seen file Q345? I can't seem to find it." Colby looked across to David who was going through CCTV footage of the streets around the abattoir. None of the roads were close and he didn't really know what he was looking for, but he was looking nonetheless.

"Not there? I don't know man. Ask Megan."

Colby turned and looked across to Megan's desk. She'd heard David's response and pulled her glasses down as she stared back at Colby. "Don't ask me. Liz'll know why don't you call her. If she survived the car ride."

David chuckled to himself at Megan's comment. "Man this is just going nowhere." He leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms.

"Here, you can help me with this." Megan stood up and landed a couple of files on David and Colby's desk.

"What is this?" Colby asked as he reached for one of the files,

"All the statements we took in relation to the Field case. Liz has labelled them pertinent or not but if Charlie is right and Don's disappearance is connected then we need to re-evaluate them."

"Oh come on. Liz has already gone through them. How 'bout we go out and question Field's colleagues again." David rubbed a hand over his forehead and looked at all the reports inside the folders and sighed.

"Would love you too but Liz has already done that too. She's been covering all the bases while we were looking for Don." Megan sat on the edge of Colby's desk and stared at the cast on his leg.

"So we're just going around in circles here." Colby frowned as he noticed Megan staring at his leg.

"Yup. I'm going over the tech reports and seeing if I can think outside the box to connect any of this stuff." Megan was still staring at Colby's leg.

"Ok. So what's the deal?" Colby asked.

"What's the deal with what?" Came Megan's reply.

"Why are you staring at my leg?"

Megan smiled and finally looked up from Colby's leg. "I was just wondering who Celine was." She tapped her finger against the only autograph Colby had collected on his cast and walked off before he could answer. She swore she could feel the heat from Colby blushing at her back.

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Don opened his eyes and brought a hand up to his head to massage his temple. _Damn._ He forgot about the bandage on his head. _Forget a lot these days Eppes. _He couldn't be sure but he reckoned that he'd been given some peace and quiet for a couple of hours to sleep on the couch. And what pure bliss it was. No nurses, no questions, just himself. Charlie had briefly said hello and had something to eat when he'd first arrived back but then quickly disappeared into the garage.

Don looked around and listened. His dad must have either gone out or be outside because he couldn't hear the usual pottering. Peeling his aching body off the couch Don took a moment to steady himself as the sound of blood rushed through his ears as soon as he was upright. He felt weak and foolish, and…_afraid._ He shook off that thought and bore the pain that his head dealt him in protestation. _Get it together man. _

A few unsteady steps and he was at the dining table thankful of the opportunity to catch his breathe. It was too quiet and now his brain was starting to function without so many drugs he wasn't particularly keen on having to be alone with it. _Charlie, I can help Charlie. _

It was the longest walk ever but he finally made it to the garage where his instincts were right. Charlie was zipping back and forth with headphones drowning out his aural connection to the planet earth. Don took his unnoticed entrance as an opportunity to catch his breath. He didn't want Charlie to see him so weak, it would just give him more reason to be concerned and the last thing he wanted was Charlie worried about him. Less so for Charlie's sake and more for his own - when Charlie worried, he pried and right now Don wanted to shut up shop.

"Charlie."

Chalk dropped to the floor haphazardly and Don smiled at the slight scare he'd given his brother. "Sorry, just me. Not used to having me around huh. I'll change that."

Charlie removed his headset placing it among reams of paperwork cluttering his desk. "Not even funny. Don't you want me to solve this case for you?"

Don's smile faded. "No, not at all. I want my brother to talk to me like I am still his brother though."

"As opposed to talk to you like what?"

"I don't know. Another problem to solve. Another case. Another excuse to disconnect. A victim."

"A victim? You're the FBI guy. I'm doing what I do, at least let me do that. I want to help. I want to help you." Then under his breath he added. "Seems like I'm the only one who does."

"What? Come off it Charlie. You don't need to do this," he stood up and tried to pretend he wasn't feeling slightly lightheaded as he tapped the chalkboard, "to help me. I'd prefer it if you talked to me. Or played scrabble with me." Don's smile was kind of lost in the woozy grimace he was displaying.

Charlie led his brother back to the sofa and sat him down. "First of all. Scrabble's missing a piece. And second of all you can talk about talking. I'm not going to provide you with conversation when I know there won't be a reciprocation."

Charlie stared down at the pale figure of his brother. He stared at the redness that crept out from under the bandage on his head. Stared at his hands and feet that were worn down by whatever it was happened to him. He stared at his eyes which never really focused on anything in the room, let alone himself. Charlie looked down at his brother and sighed. He had to help Don, whether Don liked it or not.

"Whether I like it or not huh?"

Charlie flinched at the thought that perhaps he was now thinking aloud.

"You're an open book Chuck. I know what you're doing."

"No you don't. Nobody does."

"Of course I do…"

Charlie turned around and grabbed at the chalk on his desk. He seemingly ignored Don and went back to the chalkboard. "No you don't Don. You don't know what it's like to have a big brother. You don't know what it's like to have spent years growing up not knowing him and terrified something bad would happen to him so you'd never get a chance to get to know him. You don't have a brother who insists of blocking attempts at help when it concerns him because he thinks he shouldn't burden people."

It had been quite a speech and he'd managed to calculate two rows of figures during the course of it. Finally Charlie stopped and he turned to look at his brother. Don was slumped in the sofa staring at his feet.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…"

"Nah buddy, it's fine. You're right."

"I am?"

Don smiled at that and looked up at Charlie. "Well maybe just a little. Look, I appreciate the hell out of the fact you do this. I really do. I couldn't ask for a better person to be on my side. And you're my brother." Don swallowed, took a breath and continued. "I get it Charlie. I really do. I'd probably do the same if I was in your shoes but you gotta understand I don't want this. I desperately do NOT want this."

Charlie's eyes filled with confusion as he let Don's words soak in. It was barely a whisper, but Charlie managed to bleat out his question. "But why? I don't get it."

Once again he placed his chalk down and he walked across to the sofa collapsing into its worn springs next to Don. He simply looked across waiting for his brother to answer.

"I don't expect you to get it Charlie. Like you said, you're not FBI. You think finding out what happened will help me. Maybe you're right but I'm terrified buddy."

"What?"

"Yeah. I'm terrified that you'll find out I did something bad, or wrong or…"

"Don you'd never…"

"No hear me out Charlie. This isn't a case to me. This is something that happened to me. I'm the victim. See, I'm trained to stop these sort of things happening but what good am I as an agent if I can't stop something like this happening to myself?"

Charlie began to interrupt again but Don raised his hand to signal he wasn't finished.

"What if you find out I crossed a line Charlie? What would happen if you found out I did something wrong and then all this happened because of it…"

"Don, that raid was not your fault. You didn't cross any lines."

"I've crossed them before when I've been backed into a corner. I'm capable."

"Well I don't believe that."

"Charlie, get this. If you get nothing else, get this. If I DID cross a line, if I did do something I regret, the last person I want to have to live with that burden for me is you. I'd do anything to protect my family. You're like me. You would too. I can't ask you to do this. I can't ask you to stop. But please do stop for me Charlie. That's the best way you can protect me. By letting this go."

"


	12. Chapter 12

"So this is?" Megan pointed at the table piled with folders.

"The Field case. Most of the reports. And this is Don's case." David pointed to another table with a few files on it. "And that is old cases, anything pertinent. Charlie worked out the cases with the most probability and then Colby and I went through them and added a couple where we just knew the perps weren't happy."

Liz walked across to the table with the Field reports and sifted through the folders. "Most?"

"Yeah. There's one we can't find. It's logged out to Don on the computer so it must have been lying around somewhere, near his desk maybe." Colby answered from his seated position by the table with Don's reports on it. His leg had meant he wasn't agile but it had also meant he knew this paperwork back to front. He looked up at Liz to gauge her reaction to his comment. David had told him that Liz maybe fed Charlie some information about the cases off her own bat, and maybe this file had been lost in that little exchange.

"What was in it do we know?" Liz stopped sifting and didn't miss a beat, knowing exactly what Colby's stare implied.

"Crime scene photos prior to the drug raid. The history and links between the cases which led us to conclude it was the same drug crew. Reports from Agent Field. All his case study that led us to being involved basically. A pretty important file I guess, but we're requesting copies from archives so hopefully we can piece it together in the next few days anyway."

Liz nodded and looked towards Megan. "So where do we start?"

"I figured we could split into two. You and Colby go over the Field and drug cases and David and I will sift through any correlations with Don's case and all those older cases. David probably remembers more of them any of the rest of us. Just re-ticking the boxes to make sure we haven't missed anything."

"Man, the Field case is the biggest pile." Colby's look of disgust remained as he leaned back in his chair.

David looked at Colby's cast and responded, "You got somewhere to be in a hurry?"

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"I'm off to class…"

Groceries were being ticked off a list and placed in the fridge but Alan pulled his glasses down to get a good look at Charlie. He was a little subdued and that could mean only one thing to Alan – the math wasn't giving Charlie what he needed. "Problem?"

"What? No."

"Right, so the pout has become an everyday feature of your face?"

"Yeah." Charlie picked up his satchel and keys and walked out the door, there was no way he was explaining himself to Alan. The less he told Alan the more likely Alan was to go and chase down the source of his pout and interrogate him. _I really am a genius._ If anyone could turn Don around it was his dad and Charlie was banking on it.

Alan stared at the door still swinging from Charlie's exit and then he looked out to the entrance to the garage. On the way in he'd noticed Don was absent from the lounge. Either he had sensibly gone to a bed for a rest or…_garage it is._ Hastily he placed the last of the groceries away before heading to the garage.

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"Again?"

David groaned at Megan's request. How many times could they tick these things off.

"And you thought police work was just guns and running. This is where the real work is…hey with this amount of paperwork you could think of yourself as an academic really."

"Thanks Megan but when I finished school I had no intention of returning."

"Again."

David flipped back the edge of his paperwork and began to read. "Never reported missing. Car found by an on-duty highway patrolman at 7:45am on Monday 17th. Missing persons report lodged as a result. Scene was clear of any discernable prints other than Agent Eppes', only smudges. Traces of animal blood and type A human blood found at the scene. Insignificant traces. The animal blood was an unexpected mix of foreign and local animals but all the traces were deemed insignificant to conclude anything. Traces of domestic engine oil found in the back of the car. Tests still underway to determine what kind of equipment it could have come from. Local doorknock provided no witnesses to Agent Eppes on foot in Pasadena or state-wide. LAPD assisted in data collection for the local area and co-operated with other agencies for information gathering but returned nothing. In fact if it wasn't for the pesky fact that said Agent Eppes turned up alive, we'd be arguing he'd never be in Los Angeles. That's one hell of a disappearing act." David looked up from the report as though exhausted by the speech.

"Ok, Ok, I got it all. We need to find the file with my initial briefing with Don at the hospital. I'd asked him about that oil stain. He said he didn't carry anything in his car as a general rule but occasionally his dad asked him to help out with handyman stuff. I also spoke to Alan briefly about it but as he hadn't seen Don in the week leading up to his disappearance there was nothing. So it's worth highlighting for further investigation. You agree?"

"Sure. Even if it has been there for months I'd take anything at this stage. I mean look at this." David tapped a map on a corkboard. "Don disappears here, car turns up here and he turns up here. I mean Charlie's right but saying it doesn't prove it. How the hell did he get from here to here?"

Megan removed her glasses from her head and walked up to the map with them swinging in her hands. "Well none of us think he did, so we have to find out what he did do. That oil and blood is our a good start."

"It's our only start."

"Yeah. At least till those guys pull anything from the Field case for us. You thinking what I'm thinking?"

David looked at Megan and sighed. "Charlie."

"You know what he says, the numbers don't lie."

"Yeah but there's like an infinite amount of those suckers out there, I just want the one that isn't lying about Don."

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"Hey." Charlie answered his phone as he raced to his classroom.

"Charlie. You got a sec?" Came the soft voice on the other end of the phone

"Not really but when do I ever?"

"Hey listen, I just want to ask about those folders I gave you. Any of them a folder with crime scene photos?"

"Um, I don't think so," Charlie had finally made it to outside his classroom and he stopped as he finished his conversation.

"Sure?"

"Pretty sure. I don't remember seeing any at any rate."

"Great. Thanks."

"That's it?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, I gotta go Liz but I'll call you this evening. I've got my computer finishing off some more calculations so I'm hoping to have something to show for it by this evening."

"Great, well I'll get back to my own data crunching. Speak soon."

Charlie closed the phone and finally walked into his classroom. Students were slouching in their chairs and talking to each other about some campus event. When Charlie entered a hush descended, not because a teacher was present but because they knew about his FBI brother and this was his very first class since whatever it was that happened, had happened.

Charlie noticed the change in the atmosphere but he didn't want to think about Don while he was teaching so he tried to ignore it. It didn't work. As he leapt into explanation after explanation of the mathematics every formula he mentioned made him pause as he considered whether they would be of any use in solving Don's case. The students noticed, a few whispers were heard but Charlie soldiered on.

By the end of the lesson he was exhausted. While the students exited the room with their usual hushed tones and rustling bags, Amita entered.

"How was it?"

"Incomprehensible."

"Ah come on Charlie, they're smart kids, they can understand a genius. If not, they shouldn't really be in this class."

"Yeah, well I couldn't understand me, slight problem huh."

"You've got to give yourself a break. You've been thinking non-stop about Don and maybe you just aren't ready to come back, not while this thing is still up in the air."

"No, it's not that.."

"Then what?" Amita cocked her head in disbelief and smiled at Charlie.

"Well I mean, it is. It's just Don. He doesn't want to know what happened to him. He actually asked me to stop."

"Well you know Don, he worries about you. It's his job to protect people, he probably just doesn't want you to…"

"No." Charlie stood up as he interrupted Amita and began to pace behind his desk. "No. He doesn't want to know what happened to him. I think he's worried he's done something bad and he, he doesn't want to know. Doesn't want me to know."

Amita stared at Charlie, his brown eyes were gazing out the window and she could tell he was desperately trying to process his thoughts in his mind. "He just got out of hospital. He doesn't remember what happened to him. I guess, I mean I don't know, but I think I'd be pretty spooked if that was me. Give him time maybe, wait till he's ready."

"What if he didn't do anything wrong. What if he was targeted because of who he is. What if…" Charlie gulped and sat back down in his chair, but continued looking out the window, "…what if whoever did this to him came after him to finish the job? What should I do then? Does he realize what he's asking me to do? Does he realize that irrespective of whether he's ready or what he's feeling I have to do this. Not because I am a man obsessed or because he's my brother but because I am petrified that I could lose him forever if I don't, that Dad could get caught up in it somehow."

Walking around the desk to Charlie's side Amita smiled and touched his face gently. "When did you get so smart?"

Charlie's face almost broke into a smirk. "I'm not sure if you are aware of this Ms Ramanujan, but I am a certified genius."

"Certified huh."

"Yes, despite what my family think about me in times of crisis I am NOT certifiable. I just think different is all."

"Yeah, what's so different about what you're thinking now?" Amita leant in and kissed Charlie while her hand gently reached in to stroke his deliciously hairy chest.

"I'm thinking how I can get that door locked from here without having to move away from you."

"Nah, that's not different. Even I'm thinking that…"

Amita grabbed Charlie's shirt and brought him up to standing height. She pulled him forwards as she kissed him and slowly walked backwards towards the door. As soon as she was within 20 inches of it she spun out her leg and slammed it shut.

Only the faint sounds of Millie calling out Charlie's name in some distant corridor could ruin this moment, which is exactly what was happening.

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One finger stroked the paper while the other hand supported the dead weight of his head. Reading was difficult for him as the words were slightly blurry. Don was hoping this would improve with time but he was beginning to think he'd just have to get used to this new way of reading instead. The persistent headache was something he already knew how to manage thanks to the FBI.

There was nothing interesting to read but he had to admit he was glad this was one case he wasn't working on.

"Got all the answers you're looking for?"

Don didn't even flinch at his father's words but continued to read, finishing off the sentence he was on before responding. "No answers required, just making sure my team are following the processes. Guessing that even though I am excused from duty on this case I'll be still required to ensure all paperwork is adhered to."

"Really, so this has nothing to do with your little conversation with Charlie?" Alan crept further into the room and walked over to the table where Charlie had sorted a number of files.

"Charlie tell you 'bout that did he?" Don closed the folder he had been reading and looked across at his father. Don doubted that Charlie had time to tell Alan anything in great details and he knew his brother. He'd think he was so clever if he didn't tell Alan anything and then it would ensure he'd be out to speak to him lickety split.

"Of course, your brother's not so good with the whole secrets thing. Always question how good the NSA are as an organization knowing they employ Charlie's services."

Don smiled and put his hands behind his head as he looked up at his father. "And so it begins."

"Yes, why is that?"

"Why's what?"

"This process of shutting your brother out. You know you just make him more determined, don't you."

"C'mon dad, the guy only believes his numbers. Whaddya think is gonna happen if they tell him I did this to myself? Carry it around or tell me? Either way it's just not good for him."

"Sounds familiar. What if he does find that out Don? If that's what happened don't you want to know?"

Don rubbed his temple, the headache and direction of the conversation was certainly testing his pain threshold. "One of your books is on that table, I'd grab it before Charlie loses it."

Alan looked down at the desk and noticed a patch of red underneath layers of paperwork. He knew Don was not going to answer that question, which in itself meant he'd answered it, and so he would go along with the new subject. "I asked Charlie about that 2 hours ago."

Alan pulled the book out from the paperwork, unsettling some folders on one side. Paper slid off the desk like a house of cards, falling in rapid and fluid succession. Alan cursed and Don got up slowly to help pick them up, wincing as his ribs screamed at him.

"I'll do it, you just sit back down, I caused it."

Don instantly leant back down onto the sofa and winced as what must have been a little man bashed away on the inside of his skull now. When he opened his eyes he noticed his father, folders frozen in his hand, staring at him. "Just got up too quick, relax."

Alan shook his head and resumed the clean up but one eye remained firmly on Don's position. At the same time Don noticed the contents of one of the folders. It had been separate from the bunch and so landed close to his feet. A few photos had fallen out and Don stared down at them. He remembered them. _Finally._ _Though who could forget these?_ Don picked one up and was grateful for the blurry vision for once. It was one of the drug crew Agent Field had been investigating. His body had been brutally but methodically carved up. At first they'd thought some serial killer had inadvertently surprised these drug fiends but it became pretty clear when more bodies fell that it was no random attack. Don remembered thinking that it was almost as if every time the drug squad got some intel on a drug deal the drug bossed got wind of it and sent out orders to have those who had implicated them dealt with. Don remembered thinking that last drug raid was so perfect because it was planned at the last minute to ensure there were no internal leaks. In fact he remembered thinking about it a lot. _I remember._

"Donnie."

Don's eyes unglazed as he realized his father was holding his arm and kneeling in front of him. Clearly he'd been trying to get his attention and it wasn't the first time he'd called his name.

"You Ok. You're looking a little peaked. Still considering the photo you have in your hand I can't say I don't know why."

"What the hell is Charlie doing with this folder? This is from the Field case. This was…" Don was about to say on his desk all week when he realized he had no idea what week he was talking about.

"You remember something?" The light in Alan's eyes seemed to brighten slightly.

"Nah. I just know what Charlie should and should not have access to."

The drop in his face was apparent instantly but Alan hid it by beginning to place all the folders back on the table. Don's hand grabbed Alan's hand as he went to grab the folder which had contained the picture.

"Not that one. I'm keeping this one."

"Don…"

"FBI dad. Charlie does not need this for whatever it is he's doing and he shouldn't have it. I'll give it to Megan when she's next around."

Alan eyed Don suspiciously but knew he was out of his depth convincing his eldest of anything when he used the FBI to hide behind. He'd make sure he called Megan to let her know about this though, just in case Don was lax in doing so.

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"So tell me again why this abattoir case is considered part of the Field case?" Colby said in between scratches under the cottony part of his cast.

"You tell me. Brass think it's related because it ends Field's drug investigation. Think it's neater for them that way. Either way his death ended the investigation into the remaining drug barons."

"Thought the explosion did that."

"Nah, you and me ain't important. You gotta die before something like that happens."

"Even then."

"Yeah. Look I spoke to the guys on the case and they said it's like the drugs dried up after the stash house was raided."

"More like blew up. But I guess I can see why this would be considered the same, no drugs to chase, go with the murders."

"Right. But see it's a dead end too. Field is dead. The two other victims were single and one possibly illegal so no one reported them missing. It's unbelievable to think three people die and Don goes missing and not one single person noticed."

"Makes you think huh."

"Yeah. Anyway we're left with no drugs, two dead cops, many dead drug workers and an FBI agent who doesn't remember anything."

"You think it's possible?" Colby stared at Liz earnestly. It was time for honest uninhibited assessments and no one in the room knew Don better than Liz. She'd seen a side of him no one else ever got to see, the vulnerable side. She may not have liked it but she saw it and so right now, she was probably their most valuable data.

"Colby the guy didn't even speak to me after this happened." Liz pointed to Colby's cast. "I mean who knows what he was thinking or doing for that entire week. David said he was just staying back at work and looking over the files, seeing where he went wrong."

"Is that fact or hearsay?'

"Huh?"

"Well did David know what Don was doing, like did he tell him, or is this what he thinks he was doing."

"Y'know David's pretty observant. He's worked with Don longer than any of us. Technically this is hearsay but I'm not so sure it should be dismissed because of that."

"I get your point but I mean I don't like where it's going. If he was obsessed by what happened there's a very good possibility he went round to see Marcus like Charlie says. And if he was the last person to see Marcus alive, does that mean he was the one who shot him? I mean we have to be so careful here."

"Self-defence."

"In an abattoir? What the hell would Don be doing in an abattoir? In Sophie Field's workplace."

Liz looked at Colby and swallowed. She knew Don's reputation, everyone did. Someone's going to be asking questions higher up, suggesting Don may have done something improper with Sophie Field and this caused a showdown. Every scenario is going to be tossed up to see which lands buttered side up. "I guess…that's as much a mystery as how his car ended up in the desert without any further information. Maybe we need to see Sophie Field again. Every time I've questioned her she's been too emotional to trust what she's saying. Maybe now she's able to think clearer. Maybe she knows something. At least if she suspected Don she would have said something right. You don't mess with my man and get away with it, so why would she be different to any other woman?"

"You realize you've just created more work for us and we still haven't gotten through even half these files."

Liz leaned back in her chair and threw her hands up in frustration. She looked across to Megan and David who appeared to be far more productive than her and Colby. Her next comment was meant to be loud enough for everyone to hear.

"You know, how the hell is any of this going to make sense till we know why Don's vehicle was in the desert. Can't we just admit defeat and get Charlie to work a little harder on making his math explain this? I don't care if we find out he was abducted by aliens, I just want an answer so all these other stuff makes sense."

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Don slipped the folder under his arm with one hand and rubbed his aching head with the other. He was sweaty, grumpy and hot. The last thing he wanted to do was be in a hot bed but he was so tired he had no options.

"Maybe I can sleep with the fishes?"

"Don! Not even funny, do you know what I went through thinking…"

"Sorry, didn't mean that. Too hot that's all." The bone weary tiredness was beginning to take away his speech capacity. He was going to crash soon and he wished he were still out in the garage. Sure the sofa out there was old, dusty and worn but it was also familiar and moulded to his shape. Plus the garage was so much cooler than inside.

"I'll get the fan. Think you can make it upstairs?"

"Nah, just the couch here'll do. Hot air rises."

Alan wasn't happy but he knew Don wouldn't settle upstairs so there was little point in forcing it. Of course sleeping on the lounge meant he'd hear every whisper, every footfall and he probably wouldn't sleep anyway.

"Don't worry. Meds. Make every sound disappear."

Catching Alan look up to him with a frown made Don smile as he let his father gently position him on the couch. A thin quilt was pulled up to comfort him and Don closed his eyes as though he was alone.

Of course he wasn't alone. His mind was ticking away furiously. Visions of himself sitting in front of his FBI computer, files spread out in front of him swamped his thoughts. One clear thought kept repeating in his mind. Agent Field. Don needed to see Sophie Field. Find out some details. But he was torn. How could he switch off his FBI instincts when his brain was screaming at him to leave well enough alone. Don wrestled with the fear that he'd discovered Agent Field was dirty and had ended up having to kill him. He didn't want to know. Thoughts like that could drive a man crazy, _be enough to make him run to the desert to hide_. And then the meds kicked in and he wasn't thinking anymore.

Alan patted Don as he finally drifted off. He stood above him and stared for a second before removing the folder from under his arm. He placed it on the table near the lounge, knowing that Don was too old for confiscation, and a little scared at what the FBI would do if he did actually confiscate it.

So Alan just looked at his son and wondered. He remembered the sights, the sounds and the feelings from when he discovered Don bloodied and hurt on his doorstep. He wondered when Don would be ready to give them some answers. Alan simply wasn't sure he could ever go through that again and no matter what Don did or didn't do, Alan needed to know he could be prepared, if he needed to be, for it to happen again.


	13. Chapter 13

"Doesn't it strike you as odd? I mean it strikes me as odd."

"Colby, everything about this strikes me as odd. Besides, it's the drug squad's problem now and they haven't exactly been beating down our door for answers or help."

"True, but I'm guessing they're thinking the FBI blew up their case as well as their dope last time we tried to help."

"And people have to wonder why Don took this so hard."

Colby stretched his good leg and yawned. A hand wiped at his forehead as he threw down his pencil. He gave Liz a good hard stare. She was making notes in a pad from the folder she was reviewing. Colby's folder lay open at a page describing the wounds on a dead drug lackey who fell two and a half weeks before the team went out to the stash house. "It's just. It's like it's professional but been made to look like it isn't. There's method. Once this guy was dead, someone took their time to make it look like…"

"Which case are you working on? Try as I might, I can't see how these guys died has any bearing on Don's disappearance. Drug squad think it was an inside job, one of the group's own, so of course they're gonna be odd. They're gonna take their time. But Agent Field, those other two vics with him, they were just out and out shot, with Marcus' gun."

Colby leaned forward, picked up his pencil and tapped Liz's folder. "Exactly. Initial thoughts murder-suicide, now it's murder, with his own gun. Planned. Methodical."

"So you saying this drug team's business of cleaning up its mess extended to Marcus Field. You saying that Don disappeared because Mitchum's crew tried to take him out? We've all thought about it but even Charlie can't make that link."

Colby sighed and leant back in his chair. She was right but he didn't like giving up a hunch simply because he couldn't gather the evidence instantly. "I know, I know. But if I find it anywhere, it'll be in these folders. How many of Mitchum's crew left?"

"Dunno. Trail went dead when the stash house blew apparently. They knew we were coming and this isn't a crew that just flees, they make damn sure you know it."

Another yawn erupted from Colby. He didn't notice Megan walking over to them. "Pack it up for the day guys. Think we're all too tired to think straight on this one anymore today."

Colby and Liz nodded as David walked up to them. He already had his bag packed and he was ready to go as he motioned to Colby. "C'mon man, I'll give you a lift."

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The door creaked as it opened heavily in front of Charlie as he strode in with Amita. He dropped his satchel and keys on the table which greeted them just inside.

"You be right for about half an hour? Could use a hand with interpreting the data my programme should have spat out by now."

Amita knew Charlie didn't really need her help but she was glad he wanted it. She smiled and removed her own satchel placing it on the floor under the table. Alan rushed through the door from the kitchen and instantly raised his fingers to his lips. He gave them both a silent shush and then pointed towards the couch.

Both Charlie and Amita looked across to the couch and saw Don, although they were a little bemused as to why they needed to be silent. Don was sitting up staring at them with a folder in his lap.

"Hey Don. Dad either thinks you have developed a sensitivity to sound or he expects you to be asleep."

Charlie's comment was designed to be met with a grin or a witty retort but none were forthcoming. Don seemed a little better as some color had returned to his face but Charlie swiftly realized that it emanated from his brother's well-trained emotions leaking out. Don would keep everything in when it came to his emotions except anger; that one he just gave free reign to.

"What the hell is this?" Don waved the folder in the air as he stared at Charlie.

"Ah, a file." Charlie tried to remain as cool as he could until he could work out why Don was so angry. "There's plenty more of 'em in the garage too. Don't tell me you've forgotten what they look like."

"Don't. What the hell are you doing with this file? I know sure as hell that Megan wouldn't have given it to you so where did you get it?"

Amita looked sheepishly across at Charlie and then over to the kitchen where Alan had retreated after his hush instructions. "I'll just see if Alan needs a hand." And with that she was gone.

"Look Don, I was given some folders to help with some data." Charlie didn't want Liz to get in trouble and he knew using trying to solve what happened to Don as an excuse was not going to fly so he had to think quick. "It's for the Field case."

The comment clearly angered Don so much he felt the need to stand up and gain some authority by looking down on his brother. "Megan ask you to work on the Field case?"

Charlie's eyes flicked across to the television in a bid to avoid Don's question. Nevertheless it provided Don with his answer.

"Right. But you think your clearance gives you the right to go through my files as well? You think your clearance gives you the right to invade the privacy of these dead guys?"

Anger had well and truly bubbled to the surface and overflowed now. Don threw picture after picture of a body, bloody and butchered, on the table in front of Charlie. Despite learning some detachment from these type of things the photos still made him gag a little.

"I…Look Don…I haven't seen this before…"

"Don't give me that. This file has no bearing on any calculations you shouldn't be doing anyway. I know Megan didn't give it to you. Don't need to be a detective to work out who did. I told you to stay out of this Charlie. I told you. But you never listen. You think you know better than everyone, that your desire, your need to know bloody everything, that that makes it OK for you to just do whatever you want. Others be damned."

"What the hell is going on?"

Both the brothers turned to see their father standing in the dining area with a kitchen knife in his hand.

"Well, Don? Explain to me why someone with a bullet wound to their head, broken ribs and on bed rest is raising his blood pressure?"

Holding up the folder with a fierce look in his eyes, Alan instantly knew what this was about. Don was about to speak but Alan waved his knife and effectively cut him down by beating him to it.

"I don't care about that damn thing. I don't care about FBI procedure. I don't care about why Charlie has it. What I DO care about is my two sons making themselves enemies when they should be banding together. We thought you were dead. Do you understand that Don? Y'know, like your mother. Gone. We lived with that and right now you need to stop thinking about yourself for a second and think about that. If Charlie's done anything wrong, he's done it for the right reasons; same as I'd think of you. So quit this fourteen year old yelling, apologize to Charlie…. and get back to bed."

Shock was enough to keep Charlie's smirk subdued. It was one hell of a speech and Charlie had no idea his old man had it in him.

Don on the other hand felt like he was suffocating. His father never cared for his line of work from an ethical point of view and so he always sided with Charlie as though it was a moral crusade. Sure Don reckoned that when Alan and Charlie were alone his father would, on occasion, side with Don, but when it came to the FBI, Alan rarely let Don know he understood why he had to be tough. Don grabbed his jacket that had been hanging up by the door since before he was gone and walked out the house.

"What the? Where the hell are you going? Charlie, see where your brother's going…he can't drive."

Charlie raced out after Don. He caught the tail end of Don's conversation on his cell and realized he'd just called a taxi.

"Look. I'm sorry. I didn't…honestly I haven't."

"I don't want to hear it Charlie, just leave it."

Charlie frowned and walked closer to Don. He almost grabbed his shoulder to spin him around when he remembered Don's ribs. "No I won't leave it. You don't get to do this. You don't get to put us through hell and then not let us help you. Far as I'm concerned you lost that right the moment I stepped out to a crime scene in a desert which had your blood at it. Now you don't believe me about that folder – fine. But it's just a folder Don. It's not like I killed someone or robbed a bank or anything like that."

When Don didn't respond to Charlie he threw his hands up in the air. There was no getting through to his brother when he was in this mood. Charlie turned and slowly walked inside. He didn't hear Don's mumbled words.

"It's not just a folder."

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"You ok?"

"Not really."

Amita looked up from the computer screen and studied Charlie. He was pacing around the garage, unable to make sense of anything and so his chalkboard remained void of expressions.

"He's emotional. You have to expect that. I mean he's going through a lot of stuff right now and I guess those folders have more information about him over the last few weeks than he has himself. It's only natural, especially for someone like him who is so guarded, to want to try and protect that."

Charlie looked back at Amita and shook his head. "It's not that."

"What?"

"Don is emotional. He's not himself, he's not thinking rationally. But I expected that. I've factored all that in and his behavior is upsetting but not unexpected."

"So what is it?"

"It's that file. I just can't for the life of me think why I have it and so now I want to know what's in it because it's obviously important to Don."

"Can't you ask Liz? Or Megan?"

"No. Already think Liz may be in some sort of trouble for helping me out. But I'm sure she didn't give it to me."

"Do you think it was left lying around from the last case you worked on?"

"No. Don took care of that. All the guilt he felt about the stash house blowing up, he made sure every file I had was returned. No, it's something else."

"Well, why don't we finish organizing this data. Take a break from thinking about it."

"What's the first column say?"

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Don massaged his temple in the back of the taxi. His head really throbbed now and he was feeling a little nauseous. It made him feel like a teenager again, terrified of throwing up inside a taxi and having to pay extra. He was sure trying to read the file was the problem but he couldn't tear his eyes away from it, blurry as they were.

Images had begun flashing inside his mind ever since he saw the folder. He couldn't control them and he couldn't make sense of them. He saw himself reading the file at his desk. Circling parts of it that he thought were significant. He saw himself grab his keys and walk out of his office. He saw himself throwing the file on a pile on his desk and swearing. But it was what he felt that disturbed him more. Don felt mad. He didn't know why but he saw those images and every one was accompanied by feelings of anger. At himself. _Did I do something wrong? Was this my fault?_

Rubbing away those feelings with the palm of his hand on his forehead made him feel better. Don looked out the taxi window and realized he was only a few blocks away. He closed the file and searched for his wallet in his pocket.

At that moment another image flashed into his brain. It was the image of a gun pointed right at his face. He could hear the sound, feel the darkness that accompanied it, but he couldn't see the person who held it. All he saw was the gun. The emotions that engulfed him at this point took him off guard. He had to lean his head against the window to right himself, his breathing labored. It took the last few moments until the taxi made it to the FBI building for him to regain his composure.

"Twenty five dollars."

Don pulled out some notes and handed them to the driver quickly. He desperately needed air and wanted out of that taxi. He managed to make it to the walkway without fault but once he reached the end of the bridge he had to sit down and breathe. It took him a few seconds longer than he'd like and Don didn't think he'd be able to hide the pain from his ribs if he continued into the building. The last thing he needed was the rest of the FBI to see him prone. Instead, he pulled out his cell and made a call.

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"You off?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Just got a couple of things to finish up then yeah. Tell you what, not sure this lead agent business is all it's cracked up to be. Have you seen the amount of paperwork, let alone the amount of senior meetings that you have to attend to talk about the things you need to be doing in your cases but aren't because you're in meetings all the time."

Liz laughed and went to grab her handbag from her desk. Megan's phone rang and Liz thought she almost heard her growl.

"What now? Reeves." Megan paused for a second then looked across at Liz. "Are you serious. This is up there. Right up there. Give us two seconds… yeah…'us'…I need a witness on this one." Megan hung up the phone and grabbed her jacket. "Come with me."

Liz stared at her for a brief moment then obligingly followed.

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Furious writing had made its way to the chalkboard and Charlie and Amita sat back and stared at what they saw.

"This makes even less sense."

"No, no it doesn't. We just need to work out how this fits in."

"More calculations?" The smile had long since faded from Amita's features. It seemed to have disappeared around the same time fatigue made itself known.

"More calculations."

Charlie frantically punched a few more numbers into a programme on his computer. All of a sudden he stopped, frozen.

"What is it?"

No response.

"Charlie?"

"Huh?" Finally he looked across to Amita and his features softened. "Oh. I just remembered. That folder. I think maybe I accidentally scooped it up the day they found Don's car."

"So it isn't related at all, it's just an accident."

"That's the thing. I'm thinking it is related and it's just pure luck I had it."

"But you don't believe in luck."

"I know, and yet…I've got to get that file back."

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"Seriously this takes the cake. What does it take to get Don Eppes to stop working?" Megan stood with her hands on her hips looking down at the sad pale figure before her. Don didn't look up instantly but he sensed the head shaking anyway.

"Cleaning up. Trust me, I don't want to be doing this." Don held out the manila folder and handed it to Megan. He noticed Liz but said nothing.

"Where'd you get this?"

"Charlie."

"Charlie?" Megan looked at Don and then at Liz.

From over Megan's shoulder Liz inspected the contents of the folder and shook her head. "I didn't give him this."

"But you did give him files?" Don's voice was strong but both women noticed it lacked a bit of life. It was pretty clear the cold night air was not ideal for someone who was recuperating.

"Charlie and I were shut out from the case. I gave him copies. He's got the clearance. I didn't do anything wrong." Liz defended herself well but she knew it wouldn't wash with the older brother, the FBI agent maybe, but not the older brother in Don Eppes.

"That's debatable. May not be able to do anything to you formally but I can certainly make your life hell." An arm went round his side after the last comment, his ribs were really making it difficult for him to keep his FBI rank at the forefront.

"Settle down Don. We need all the help we can get. This file doesn't even seem to be related to yours anyway." Megan closed the folder and stared down at her impaired boss.

"It's got everything to do with my case."

Megan stared at Don and sighed as she sat down next to him on the bench. "Please explain."

Don took a deep breath and regretted it instantly. "I was reading that folder before I headed off that night. It was the last thing I read."

"You remember what happened?" Liz was almost afraid to ask.

"No. But I remember that."

"Still don't see how this relates though Don." Scanning the file, Megan searched for the holy grail in it but she couldn't find anything.

"I think…"

Megan and Liz looked at each other, waiting for Don to finish.

"I think I saw a pattern."

"What like Charlie? You getting all math genius on us, and that's why you were almost killed?" Don gave Megan a sarcastic smirk after this comment but he wasn't deterred.

"No like Don Eppes. Something to do with all the dead bodies in the drug case, Mitchum's crew. I noticed something."

"What?" Megan offered the file to Liz and she began scanning it.

"I don't remember. Give me a break. You're the lead agent in charge, you tell me."

"Speaking of that, I'm not happy about this new arrangement. How long does it take ribs to heal again?" The light banter from Megan softened Don's earlier anger. He was doing something and he realized how good this was at distracting him from his own insipid thoughts.

"Long enough to see you ride out a few more cases. I'm gonna go. Can you take this from here?"

"Take what? You're asking us to work out what you were thinking while reading this. Don, I haven't got a clue what you're thinking now." Liz was going to add, _and I sleep with you_ but didn't want to push it. "Besides, how did you get here?"

"Taxi."

"Alan know?"

"What am I like fourteen?"

"Hmm, even a fourteen year old knows that when you're sick you stay home." Megan interjected.

"I'm not sick. I'm injured. There's a difference."

"Whatever superman, I'll take you home. FBI don't pay you enough to catch taxis everywhere. I should know, these higher duties suck." Megan smile was warm and Don felt good.

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Don rested his head back against the seat and stared out the window. Street lights beat a glow over him rising up and down like a wave in a comforting manner.

"Thinking of seeing Sophie Field."

Megan didn't respond. She knew Don was really expecting her to talk him out of it but she wasn't about to let him off the hook. She thought seeing Agent Field's wife might be just the thing for him. If he confronted his guilt over what happened, maybe he could move on. Maybe even remember a few things he'd somehow managed to forget under the blanket of his injuries.

"Maybe tomorrow." Don added.

"Really. Colby and Liz have a few more questions for her about the case. I'll pick you up, take you round. Two birds one stone that sort of thing."

"Nah. Should probably go on my own."

"Nah. Not gonna happen."

"Excuse me?"

"Speaking as a friend here, not an agent. You can't get there yourself. She's not exactly the most stable person herself at the moment. I could use a hand asking those questions. She sees you she might understand we know what she's going through."

Don hid his smile. Megan had hoodwinked him and convinced him with her psycho babble but he didn't care. "Ok."

"Wow. That was easy. While you're on a roll maybe I should throw my two cents in about why you should go easy on Charlie."

"No way Reeves. He's let his emotions take over on this one. He's not providing you with accurate data and now he's stealing files from my desk."

"Don, you're his brother. Let him emotions take over on this one. Besides, Charlie doesn't lie, Liz asked him about that folder. I heard her. She doesn't know I heard but I know. He didn't know anything about it."

"Trust me. It was information, it was in his house, he knew about it."

Megan said no more. She was too busy inwardly grinning in the knowledge that Don Eppes was finally taking an interest in his own case. _Wait till I tell Charlie._


	14. Chapter 14

"You hear him come home last night?"

"Nope, but I was in the garage." Charlie responded through a mouthful of toast.

Taking a slow sip of his coffee Alan contemplated both his sons.

"Anyway, would love to stay and chat but I gotta go." Charlie grabbed his juice, took a swig and then grabbed his bag and keys.

Alan looked at his watch and read the time, 7:06am. "Thought we were going in to CalSci together."

Charlie shook his head and continued to the front. "Sorry, no can do this morning, but Amita said she could drop you." He pointed upstairs signifying that his girlfriend was still in bed.

As Charlie exited the house Alan grumbled under his breath. "Damn teenagers."

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The bullpen was quiet for a change. Only three agents were present. It had been a slow week for crimes and so everybody was taking advantage of it; everybody but Liz, Colby and Megan that is.

"You sure you're ok with doing this?" Liz wiped a bit of sleep from her eyes as she said this to Megan.

"Yeah, think it's best to mix up the agents she sees. Makes her think that everyone is working it and also means we can use different tactics."

"O-kay, but I was more meaning taking Don out there." Liz explained.

"Ah well, that's an unknown variable but nobody split the atom by avoiding unknown variables."

"Way too much time with Fleinhardt Megan, way too much."

"Jealous Granger? Please do tell me the last time you even had a conversation with a woman let alone got close enough to smell her."

"Nothing wrong with being picky." Colby sneered and went back to the pile of paperwork he was sorting. "So, is it supposed to be obvious to me what's in here or what?"

"Now if it was obvious you'd be team leader, ever want to climb that ladder start thinking like one." It was a comment you'd expect from Don but coming from Liz's lips just seemed weird. Colby bit his tongue on his desired comment and continued scanning the photos and documentation in the file he was holding.

There were photos of Mitchum's drug crew slain. Colby remembered the details he'd read in the other files and the more he looked at these photos the more they confirmed in his mind how they seemed contrived. Ordered, meticulous, made to look a certain way but most definitely there was an element of sadism there. It was almost as if the person doing it knew what they were doing and enjoyed it.

"Think Agent Field was involved in this?" Colby finally asked as Megan was pulling on her holster.

"I don't think anything at this stage, but you show me evidence and…that's a different matter altogether. Anyway, I'm off. You remember anything else just give me a bell on the way to Sophie's." And with that Megan left the building.

Colby stared across at Liz. She stared back and then sighed. "Remember a time when we got to go out and talk to people. Those were the good days." Colby laughed at Liz's comment then stopped suddenly.

"Speaking of, why is it us two shovelling paperwork? Where's David?"

Liz shrugged and pulled out her cell. She was monotone as she read out a text message from it, "Hooked up. Cover me with the boss. Only be an hour later than you guys. Owe you one."

"Man. When am I gonna get lucky?"

"Right now I hope." Both Liz and Colby spun round to see the curly haired originator of that comment, Charlie.

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"Alan didn't look too happy 'bout that."

"Ah, when is he ever."

"So you're sure your doctor is cool with you getting out and about so much."

Don pulled his sunglasses down and stared at Megan. She understood the unspoken words immediately. Don was his own boss and he'd decide what was best for him. End of conversation.

"You bring the folder?"

"Nah, got Colby and Liz going over it like a fine tooth comb. Nothing yet other than a comment that your doodles are most artistic. Colby thinks you've wasted your talent by joining the FBI, shoulda been a great master or impressionist or something."

"Colby thinks cowboy boots are artwork. On topic though, how am I gonna know what it is I need to ask Sophie if I don't have it."

"Relax Don, I photocopied it for you. Glovebox."

The paperwork spilled out on Don as soon as he opened the compartment. In a way he was grateful the pictures were now in black and white, made the blood seem less real, easier to remain detached.

"Good work Special Agent Reeves."

"Well considering you said you'd pay for the coffees I thought I'd better pull through. Speaking of which…"

Don shook his head, cursed inwardly at the tug from the taut skin around his wound and then looked out the window. They were at least ten minutes from anywhere they could stop for coffee. Don hoped Megan could hold out.

"Yeah yeah. Patience. When you're at the top you need to learn patience Megan. Besides, I'm not allowed any so it's pretty cruel to hold me to that."

"If you can't handle the fire Don don't make promises, especially ones that involve coffee and an agent."

Don smirked at that and then looked down at the paperwork in his hands. All of a sudden an image of Marcus Field, crying, slammed into his consciousness. It metaphorically took the wind out of him. The images were so real and unexpected but despite their clarity Don struggled to ascertain details from them. They were like photographs on a billboard, fleeting and invasive. He'd get the gist but never the detail.

"You alright? Need me to stop?"

Don looked across to the concern on Megan's face, realizing his little moment was not so private. "Nah, it's fine."

A few seconds of silence passed between them before Megan spoke again. "You remembered something right?"

"What are you, like inside my brain. Never a moments peace with you around."

"When Crystal Hoyle…well you know. Months afterwards images would just flash into my mind at really inopportune moments. Once I was in the supermarket and just smashed a container of yoghurt when one hit. Kind of like when you see your first crime scene. It never leaves you. I thought it was me not dealing with it but then I remembered…when I first moved here from the east coast same thing happened. Images just flashed into my brain of back home. Sometimes not even images, sometimes smells or feelings. They smash in there and then disappear right away. It was then that I realized that's how our brain works, it's like a constant random slideshow in there. It's constantly flipping and sorting images in there and we have no control over it. Thing is, we only notice it's going on when it's something we don't want to remember. Soon as we are forced to remember it, it's easier to not be so spooked by it."

"Well if you'd have taken a breath in there I would have told you to leave it be…but now I've been lectured by just about everyone, you're the only one who I guess makes sense."

"Oh the pinnacle of my career right here."

Don smiled at Megan and then stared back out the window, thinking.

"Marcus?"

_How the hell did she do it_? Don was beginning to think the woman was truly inside his head. "Huh?"

"Was it about Marcus? I mean this is why we're speaking to Sophie Field right? You feel like you worked out that maybe Marcus was involved. Saw a pattern and it led you to Marcus or Crowther or something like that and you went round there to confront him. Only he wasn't there. You never got to speak to him."

"No."

Megan frowned and gave Don a stare at his brief response.

"Not the end bit. I don't know. It's like you said. Just flashes of moments." Taking a deep breath and making sure his ribs were up to it Don prepared himself for being honest and open with Megan. He trusted her implicitly but he just wasn't the kind of guy who needed to talk about things. In fact talking made him feel worse. Knowing that people knew what you were thinking, it didn't unburden him, it burdened them and it made him feel worse. Sometimes they'd use the information against him at a later date; his dad was a good one for that. Anything he let slip would be brought up time and time again if it suited an argument and Don simply hated it. It got so that keeping his mouth shut made the world a better place so it just wasn't natural for him to want to go and ruin that with a whole heap of nattering. The irony of the fact his job was all about getting people to open up was not lost on him however.

"You want to expand?"

"No." _Damn, yes…_

Megan sighed inwardly and continued down the road, they were only a few blocks away now.

"I saw Marcus. He was…I don't think it was good. That's all I know."

Megan looked at Don, they were at Sophie's house now. This was going to be one hell of a meeting if what Don was remembering held any veracity. With no evidence it all rested on Don's memory at this stage and it was proving to be volatile. She looked away from Don and at the house. The vespa was parked out front so she knew Sophie was home. It was now or never for Don.

"Well, here we are. You right to go?"

Don strained to find anything familiar with the house but he came up blank. He began to question whether or not he did see Marcus. How could he tell if what he was remembering was a dream or real? "Only one way to find out." Don unclipped his seatbelt and slowly exited the car, trying not to strain his sore ribs.

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"He told you that?"

"Yeah."

"He never mentioned a thing about this. Said a lot of things but never mentioned that."

Colby felt sorry for the guy. Charlie was desperate to help his brother but the way Colby saw it, Don was the only real key to this case and everything rested on him remembering. Charlie could come up with theories till the cows came home but it meant nothing if Don wasn't prepared to listen. "Well Charlie I'm thinking Don is seeing you more as a brother on this one, not a consultant."

Charlie looked back at Colby with despair. He was trying so hard to not let his emotions bubble to the surface on this one. Focusing really hard Charlie let the numbers siphon themselves to the top of his brain. "What I'm thinking is this file holds a pattern. Despite my brother being backward in coming forward this file was important to him. It holds relevance to the case he was emotionally and personally affected by, he felt responsible and of all the files he had this one has worked its way to be the one that held something for him. So there's something in it that could reveal his last moments. Probably a pattern."

Liz wasn't really following, "Why?"

"Because everything is numbers, that's why. Everything we do has a pattern, a reason, and it can be broken down mathematically. Don found something in here and using a few different techniques I think I can narrow down what it was he saw. We know that we can retrace his last steps."

"Well sounds good Charlie. This file is a compilation of the murders from the Mitchum drug case. Whatever it was Don saw it was a pattern to these deaths. I have to say there's something hinky about them to me and I haven't spent hours pawing over this file. Other files yes, but not this one, so if you can pull something to the forefront that would help."

Charlie took the folder as Liz answered a call to her cell. Charlie looked up at Colby and bit his lip. "And man." He paused and looked down at the folder. "Thanks for letting me do this."

Colby didn't have to respond, everyone knew what was at stake here and they were all glad they were finally moving forward. "You solve this and you may solve the Field case. But we're not paying you double consultant fees on that one."

As Charlie almost laughed Liz slammed her cell shut. "David's got some details on the oil and some more info on the blood finally. I'll go down and meet him."

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The knock on the door had taken quite a few moments to be answered. Megan stood in front with her badge pulled out for ID. Don rested against the brick wall of the home for support, prepping himself for the conversation.

"Special Agent Reeves and Special Agent Eppes from the FBI. We were hoping we could maybe have a few more words with you about your husband if that was ok?"

Sophie Field stood there pale as anything and slowly looked between the two agents. It was if she was in shock. The woman clearly was nowhere close to coming to terms with her husband's death. Megan breathed in deeply knowing this was not going to be an easy interview.

Sophie looked across to Don, a flicker of recognition bubbling on her face.

"Agent Eppes was working with your husband on his last case. Recently he's been injured and we believe there may be a connection with your husband's death. May we come in?"

Sophie remained still as though she hadn't heard Megan.

"Sophie? Can we please come in?" Reiterated Megan.

This time she heard and opened her fly screen allowing the agents to slowly and uncomfortably walk through the door. Sophie grabbed Don's arm as he brushed past her and stopped him. "You…"

Don stared back as she tried to finish her sentence.

"You knew Crowther?"

"Yeah, and Marcus. They were good men."

Sophie nodded. "Read 'bout you in the paper. Anything about Marcus in there…I read it back to front for anything but it's like one day it's news the next…the next he's forgotten. You've forgotten too haven't you Agent Eppes? You come here but you can't tell me anything more than I already know…you need me to tell you about my husband. You worked with the man, he trusted you. Crowther trusted you and you expect his wife to give up the details of his death. When will you people ever do your own work?"

Don gulped and freed himself from Sophie's grip to walk in after Megan. Don steeled himself for one volatile conversation. _This is gonna be bad._

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David handed Liz the folder and sat back against the metal bench in the forensics lab.

"This it?"

"Yeah, I don't know if it's good news or bad."

"Well it's certainly a development."

David sighed. "So while they can't tell us which slaughterhouse it came from, it damn well links Don's SUV to that scene in my opinion."

"Yeah, but we never get that elusive answer…how did Don's car, this blood from the abattoir, end up in a desert outside San Diego. We keep turning up fact after fact but none of it makes sense."

"Tell me about it. But I've got a theory." David adjusted himself and pulled out another report. "Oil results. It's engine oil all right. Stock standard. Any gas station sells it so we can't narrow down the chemical make-up any further but what does that tell us?"

Liz studied the report and waited till she finished reading all the results before staring into David's face.

"I'm with you. Certainly is the first explanation we can work with and evidence to back it up. What do you reckon would happen if we gave this to Charlie to add to his data?"

"Reckon we'd see the boy wonder fly, that's what I reckon."

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Colby was getting dizzy watching Charlie work. He was running from his laptop to folders and crunching data at an unbelievable rate. Only Amita could add it faster but Charlie saved himself time at the other end by not having to explain anything to anyone about what he was doing.

"Ah ha."

"You got something?"

"Not yet Colby but already I can see a pattern emerging. See this?"

Colby looked at where Charlie pointed on the board. All he saw was a collection of pixels making a pretty pattern in green. "You gonna tell me what a few green lines mean to a hick like me?"

"It means there is a pattern to these deaths. There's a common factor. I haven't narrowed it down yet but in all this data from the file there's something in here which has taken my computer half an hour to detect using highly complex programming. Don found it himself."

The pride in Charlie's voice could not be hidden. To Charlie everything may be numbers but Colby always admired the loyalty and conviction he had in his brother. Charlie was awed by the fact that he could prove how things worked by mathematics but his brother simply 'felt' or understood the same things using simply his wits. To Charlie Don was the genius, his brain provided better results than Charlie's laptop ever could. And Don's brain provided something Charlie's math never could, an allowance for human error. Some people called it instinct and Charlie didn't believe that, he called it intelligence.

"How long?" Now Colby could see some progress he was becoming impatient to get to an answer.

"Not too much longer. I'd say…"

Charlie's words were cut short as he noticed Liz and David barrelling towards the war room waving some paperwork.

Liz came in and without saying a word handed a copy to Colby and Charlie. She gave them a second to read the details.

"What's this?" Charlie asked after having read it.

"That my friend is the answer to the million dollar question. How does a car end up in a desert while the owner ends up in Pasadena days later? Sort of…least I hope you can help us prove it." Liz beamed.

Charlie was in shock. Normally when he got told he was right, it came from Don. To know that all his fruitless efforts till now had been right felt empty. It was strange, he thought he would feel better, but this evidence, it meant not only was he right, but Don was more than likely still in danger. "It doesn't really prove…"

David chirped in. "No it doesn't really prove anything but from all that we know there's one scenario that keeps cropping up. And it's a good one."

The laptop beeped interrupting the conversation. Charlie looked across to see it had finalized crunching the data. Projected on the monitor was a series of lines that spun out like a spiderweb but connected at one common point. Colby pointed at that point which was labelled N5. "What is N5?"

Charlie gulped and looked at the others. "Not what, who. N5 is Marcus Field."

"So are you saying this is telling us Don worked out Marcus was doing a bit of drug clean up on the side and…" Colby never got to finish as Charlie interrupted.

"No." He flicked open a file and furiously searched for a page. He found it and held it up. "No. This is Grant Fletcher. He was killed while Marcus was in D.C."

"So the program got it wrong?" Colby questioned.

Charlie froze and looked around to David and Liz. "No. That's correct. N5 is the common link. I'm wrong. N5 isn't Marcus."

"Then who is?" Colby asked.

"Oh my god David. Remember when we first went out to question Sophie, she wasn't there. We came back and knew she was because…" Liz began.

"…Because she had a vespa parked in her driveway." David opened the folder and looked at the results of the oil. The report stated it there in black and white. 'Engine oil consistent with use in a small motorized vehicle such as a motorbike or moped.' "N5 is Sophie Field Charlie."

"Where's my brother?"

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_A/N Sorry for the delay between chapters, I hope that these 2 chapters posted 2 days apart make up for it, especially considering I think you can now see that we have some answers to some of the more burning questions. _


	15. Chapter 15

_**A/N For some reason when I loaded Chapter 14 it didn't move up the list. So, if by some chance, you are reading this and don't have an alert please make sure you check you have read the previous chapter. That'll learn me to update 2 chapters in 2 days!!**_

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The door shut without a sound behind them. Megan stood awkwardly in front of the purple sofa which had faded from the sun shining through the adjacent window onto it. Don's face displayed a slight twinge of trepidation, which did not go unnoticed by Megan.

Sophie stood by the front door staring at the two agents. Something seemed strange about her manner to Megan but she couldn't put her finger on it. Certainly there was blame emanating from Sophie but they were FBI agents, they weren't exactly going to be welcomed into the home. Still, Sophie didn't exactly convey the image of a grieving widow, there was something more to the anger that she was radiating.

"I know this is difficult," Megan began before gesturing towards the sofa as a means of asking if she could sit down. Sophie barely managed a nod, she seemed distracted by Don. "We were wondering if you had any additional information about where Marcus may have been that night. Anything that's come to mind since. Agent Eppes…well we, believe that perhaps Marcus was…" Megan searched her internal thesaurus for a less attacking word than 'involved'.

It wasn't coming easy and Don interjected. "Affected. Sometimes when…this job isn't easy. A case like this, it can surprise us just how differently we react as agents. Perhaps Marcus was acting a little different to normal. I mean he'd lost a work colleague. Nothing about this case was going to be normal for him after that."

Sophie cocked her head in surprise at Don's comment. She considered what the agents were saying and she hid her disbelief perfectly. When she saw the car pull up she was certain they'd worked something out but here they were as useless as ever, clutching at wrong threads. She'd lost everything, she had nothing left to lose. Perhaps these agents could help her out with a swan song.

"Are you seriously telling me you came round here to accuse Marcus of this?" Sophie marched across the room and sat down at a desk, half facing her interrogators.

Don sat down on the sofa and looked across to Megan. Nothing was coming to him. He had carefully scanned the room when he'd entered and lingered on photos of Marcus but nothing was causing the cogs in his brain to turn. Don began to think he had dreamt of the vision of Marcus. _PTSD…great, Bradford gets richer. _

Megan stood up to face Sophie better. "We aren't accusing anyone of anything. We just need some answers and everything keeps leading us back here."

"Ever wondered why?" At that moment Sophie slid open the drawer of the desk and pulled out a gun. She aimed and fired at Megan's right shoulder, the bullet finding its target effortlessly. Call it instinct but Don span round the instant he heard the drawer open. Don reached for Sophie and he made contact, only not the kind he wanted. The butt end of the glock, still warm from the heat of firing, crunched against Don's skull. The impact broke open the stitches covering the old wound. Don almost laughed when, for a split second, he realized he remembered something – this felt familiar.

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A slam of the phone gave the rest of the team a clue that Liz was mad. Her face confirmed it. "Nobody checked?"

David moved in to calm the situation. "You're gonna end up blaming one of us or yourself and I don't like the idea of any of those scenarios."

"David, nobody checked!"

"We had no reason to. Besides, we were running at a half crew. Mistakes were going to happen. We had priorities, this wasn't one of them. Hindsight's a bitch."

Any other day and Liz may have smiled, but not today. She had just phoned Sophie Field's mother's nursing home. Sophie Field hadn't visited in the last month. In fact they were kind of worried as to whether she was alright herself. It was all Liz could do not to spit venom at the chirpy nurse.

Thankfully Charlie had moved out to the cubicles with Colby; David wasn't sure who needed whose help more at this point. Charlie was terrified. He'd done what he promised, solved Don's crime but in doing so had discovered his brother had walked straight back in to harm's way. Just what he didn't want, and with another agent, a friend.

David looked away from Charlie and back to Liz. "You think we can get a warrant in time?"

"Do I care?"

With that Liz barged out of the war room. David followed her as she made her way across to Colby. He was on the phone but it didn't sound like he was talking to Megan like he was supposed to.

"Megan's cell's off. Same with Don. He's trying the closest police department." Charlie was frustrated and displaying some of the same tell tale signs Don displayed when unable to do what he wanted, or needed.

At that moment Colby's eyes widened in surprise and he looked up at his team. He finished his conversation as quick as he could. "That's LAPD. Gunshot reported at Stoke St…"

"Sophie Field?" Liz had no time for details.

Colby looked up at Liz, then Charlie. "They're on their way."

"And so are we." David pulled the keys and his flak jacket from his desk. Liz and Charlie followed suit. "Sorry Charlie. No can do. This isn't a crime scene, it's a potential hostage situation." _I hope…_the alternative was too difficult to contemplate at the moment and David needed to focus.

"It's my brother." Charlie stood his ground, he didn't do all this to save his brother only to fall at the last leg.

"Charlie I can't." David had already begun moving to the elevators, time was wasting.

"You'll need me."

"I need you alive. Alive for when your brother chews me out for listening to you in the first place. You have to stay here, Colby is our ground support, that's what you do best."

And with that Liz and David disappeared behind the elevator doors. Charlie turned around horrified and looked at Colby back in the cubicles. He was on the phone to someone else, his attention diverted. Charlie pressed the button and waited, bobbing up and down impatiently as time seemed to stretch, every second an extra chance that Colby would look up. Finally it dinged and Charlie stepped out of sight. He was a consultant. Sure they could tell him what he could and couldn't do when it came to the FBI but there was nothing to stop him making his way out to Stoke St right? That wasn't a crime, just happening by a police scene, was it?

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Co-ordinates were robotically sounded out as each street made its presence known to the GPS. Liz fastened her vest with some difficulty due to the restrictions of the seatbelt, the lingering injury to her shoulder and the jerkiness from the speeding car. She held her heart in her throat from the moment she'd heard about the gunshots. The what ifs were creeping in.

"Don't go there."

"What?"

"Don't start second guessing yourself. This is how it is, let's just deal with the situation as it really is, not how it could be."

Liz squinted a stare at David. How could one man be so annoyingly right and also so annoyingly thinking what she was thinking. _Does that make me annoying?_

"It's like we've got our answer, Sophie Field, without really knowing what the clues mean. Unsatisfying. Plus we don't know what this woman is capable of because we don't know the answers, only that Charlie was right."

"We know enough. She shot Don and took his car out to the desert to throw us off the scent. She's cold, calculating and manipulating. She works in an abattoir for crying out loud. She knows how to butcher. We should have pegged her from the start."

"That's not what I'm talking about. Sure we know she did this to Don but explain how Don was shot on a Friday and turned up in Pasadena on a Monday. This whole dumping of the car was clever. It certainly threw more than a spanner in the works, a whole toolkit to be sure, but it doesn't answer what happened to Don, to Marcus. It doesn't tell us what is going down at Sophie's right now. What if that's Megan's shot?"

"Then why isn't she on the phone calling it in?" David dared to glance at Liz, his eyes leaving the road for the briefest of seconds.

"I'm not Charlie. All I'm saying is we don't have all the answers. We need to be careful."

"Agreed. But we aren't going to get the answers sitting around here." David motioned ahead and stopped the car.

Flashing lights and sirens filled the air, swat had already assembled behind doors awaiting a command. David and Liz jumped out looking for who was in charge. After a few seconds and a quick surveillance David realized something; he was the senior agent in charge. This was all on him. _Thanks Megan. You better be alive so I can kick your butt for this dereliction of duty._

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A purple flash crept forward, conspicuous in its attempt to be inconspicuous. Several cars lined the streets and Charlie could barely see his way through to the road, let alone the house. He parked his prius and got out. The familiar site of swat and local police swarmed in front of him but no David or Liz. No Don or Megan for that matter either. He inched forward, not thinking about his own safety.

A policeman had begun cordoning off the area and stopped Charlie. He flashed his FBI consultant badge and was waved through. If Don was alive he'd no doubt ensure that guy didn't rise through the ranks quickly. _If Don was alive. Dammit Charlie…Don IS alive._

Charlie never knew Don not to fight. For this to end right here, right now, like this, well it just wasn't Don. The numbers were desperate to calculate the odds for Charlie but he tried to ignore them as he made his way through the crowd.

People milled around as though this was any other day at the office and Charlie wanted to scream at them that this was not any ordinary day. He wanted to grab them and tell them to go into the house and pull out his living and breathing brother and best friend's girlfriend. But he didn't because he realized something. He realized that if this was a hostage situation they would not be milling around, they'd be frozen in their positions ready to strike.

Air seemed difficult to find and Charlie found his body lowering itself to the gutter as though it would find it there. It was a strain but he finally managed to drag two breaths deep inside his lungs. His heart beat a rhythm in his ears that he found most unpleasant due to the speed. _Don._

"Charlie?"

His eyes widened as he saw Liz staring down at him. She looked pale and drawn. Charlie gulped and swayed.

"Charlie, you alright?"

"Don?"

Liz sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She collapsed next to Charlie on the sidewalk and took a second before she went on the attack. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Don?"

A sigh blew out and Liz picked herself up. She put out a hand to help Charlie up and he tentatively took it. She pointed towards the building. "Come on."

It took a second for his feet to respond but eventually he followed Liz. Suddenly he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to 'Don?'. He grabbed Liz's arm and stopped her, she winced slightly at the tug on her painful shoulder.

"Trust me Charlie." Her brown eyes conveyed sadness but Charlie trusted them.

A few yards more and Charlie was looking at the wall Don had leant on earlier that morning. Charlie could almost sense his brother's presence. He hesitated at the front door step. Liz had walked in and he could see her whispering to David. David's arms moved in a way suggesting he too was mad at Charlie's appearance. They finished their conversation and Liz came out to chaperone Charlie through the final stages.

The tug required was harder than expected but Charlie stumbled into the house and steeled himself. A quick look around the room revealed nothing. It was perfect. Obviously wherever his brother was it wasn't here.

"They're not here." David's voice was gentle as he spoke.

"Then where? The bathroom? The hospital already?" There was a slight inflection of the last phrase as though Charlie had concluded it was the best case scenario.

"No Charlie. They're not here. No car. No agents. No Sophie Field."

"But…"

"Yeah. We know. She did this once, she almost got away with it. She can't hide behind evidence this time and get away with it. We know how she operates now. We've got LAPD looking for Megan's vehicle but we're not going to pay much attention to where they locate it. In fact we may even need you for this."

Charlie looked up at David and then at the room he was in. He could almost feel his brother's presence. "Where?"

"Charlie, we're going to find them. They're agents. They're trained."

"She did this to Don already. She did this to Marcus."

"No Charlie. Don got away. He got away. Besides. There's two of the kick-ass super-agents now. We'll find them."

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_A/N A little shorter than usual but only because I need to break it up…next chapter will be longer and not too far away. Stay tuned._


	16. Chapter 16

_A/N – so sorry about this delay, my laptop had to go in for repairs and it needs to go back in soon. Especially sorry for leaving you waiting with Don in danger…_

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"I remember this."

"Thanks for that. Maybe you could have remembered this like two hours earlier."

"Two hours."

"Yeah. I'm guessing that's one hell of a headache you're sporting."

Don tried to reach up and feel his head wound but his hands defied him.

"Don't bother. There's no way you can get out of them."

"Really!"

"Yes, really. She sealed the lock with a soldering iron. No doubt the FBI will take the price of the cuffs out of our paychecks."

Don's vision swam as he looked down at his hands and realized Megan was right. "How you doing?"

Showing Don her own handcuffed arms Megan couldn't hide her wince. "With any luck this won't kill me. But that all depends on what Sophie has in mind."

She could see the responsibility wash over Don as he began to feel not only his pain but hers. To be fair, she was feeling more than her fair share of responsibility and had spent a good part of the last two hours worrying about Don. A new concussion certainly, and there was so much blood. Megan also bore her own share of guilt at allowing Sophie to weaken her. She felt sick that she couldn't stop Sophie handcuffing them both.

Blood had dried on Don's face and it created a scratchy sensation. His vision was blurry and he was finding it hard to concentrate. Despite this he definitely recognised his surroundings. "How did we end up here?"

"Sophie Field definitely works out…maybe a volunteer firefighter. But that's not the question you wanna be asking."

Don swallowed carefully as he felt bile rising in his stomach. _Definitely concussed. _"What should I be asking?"

"You wanna enlighten me as to how you made it out of here the last time. Crack team of FBI agents and a genius weren't able to do that one." Megan shifted slightly to manoeuver her arm to a more comfortable position. She struggled to keep pressure applied to the bullet wound in her shoulder due to the handcuffs.

"That's still a bit fuzzy. But this…" Don indicated the deserted room they were in. "…this is definitely familiar."

Megan leaned her head back against the wall and sighed. "Figured that. Also figure Sophie is in the process of dumping my car on the other side of town."

"So we don't have much time?"

"Not as I see it. So how 'bout you hurry up on rememberin' how you skedaddled out of here last time before everyone starts to worry. I know what it's like to think your colleague is dead. Not something I want to put anybody through." Megan regretted it as soon as she said it, but she couldn't take it back. She'd added more guilt on to Don, but in her defence she was cranky and in a lot of pain. Hot rods of pain seared down her shoulder blade and seemed to connect straight with her mouth making her snappy.

"Think it'd be more productive just trying to figure out how to think. I'm not exactly firing on all cylinders here. Guessing you aren't either but considering I got out of here once before and I had a concussion and a bullet wound you can do the thinking for this one."

"Hey no fair, I'm just a girl."

It was the first smile she'd managed to rouse out of Don since he'd come to.

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"Salamander Ave. No. No, like I said that's not where she'll….what? You kidding me?"

David slammed his phone shut and looked across to Liz and Charlie. Liz was trying to lure the mathematician out of the house but Charlie was desperately searching the room for a clue or inspiration. Liz looked up as David shut the phone.

"What's up?"

"That was CHP. They picked up Megan's car…"

"Yeah but we're not interested in…"

"With Sophie Field still in it."

Everything in the room fell silent at that point. Charlie's eyes begged to know more as they bore into David but he didn't seem able to get any words out. David guessed the question and answered it for Charlie.

"Just Sophie Field."

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"Room 7."

Colby stared at Sophie as she was led handcuffed to an interrogation room. He hid his crutches behind the cubicle wall so she couldn't see them as she walked by. _ Don't want to show any weakness to this bitch._

The highwaypatrolman nodded as he walked past Colby to indicate there was no update on his friends. Colby hung his head, took a deep breath and prepared himself for what was to come.

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"Still nothing huh."

"Give me a break, I can hardly see straight here." Don gulped down another breath as the nausea hit him again. He was beginning to see himself shake in time to the throbbing in his head and it just make him feel even sicker.

Megan looked across to Don and realized she needed to keep distracting him; he wasn't looking so good. Of course, Megan was beginning to wilt severely herself. She desperately wanted someone to find them and pump them full of warm and gooey medication to make their pain go away but she knew that Sophie Field couldn't be too far away.

They were in a dark basement, bereft of furniture. A window up top had been cemented in and the only source of light came from the many cracks in the brickwork that had formed. She had tried yelling for an hour while Don was unconscious but it only resulted in a sore throat. Now that Don was conscious she needed to keep the yelling for a moment when she knew someone would hear. And there was nothing but her quick breathing and heartbeat to fill her ears at this moment.

The worst part about all this was that they were only a few feet from Sophie's house. She'd marched Megan across her backyard, through a hole in the fence and into a deserted house right after she'd handcuffed Don. The real surprise was when she had come back a few minutes later with Don swinging over her shoulders. Any other situation and Don would definitely be mercilessly suffering for that little gem.

"You think maybe that window was cemented up recently?"

Don looked up. An image of a window flashed through his mind and he caught his breath. He looked across to Megan and could only manage a nod initially. "Yeah, yeah, I think so. Guess that rules out my exit plan. All up to you now. Don't you think you look better in red?"

Startled by the comment Megan looked over and frowned at Don.

"Silk. Silk is good too. You look nice in silk."

"OK fedcake, you're officially of no use to me." Megan sighed as she realized Don's concussion was ruling him out for any serious thinking now. "And here I was thinking she'd clobbered you on the least useful part of your body."

Don smiled and seemed a little confused. _Not sure what's going on here. Not sure I like it._ He looked up at where the window used to be and smiled, no image flashed in front of his face. "Charlie'll work it out."

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Twenty minutes and not one word was spoken by Sophie. Colby was desperate to get up and walk around the room to vent his frustration but he'd already played out his lie. He'd walked in without his crutches on his plastered leg, so as to not seem weak. The thing was, his leg was now being to ache.

"I'll say it again. We have connected you to all the crime scenes. We know you kidnapped and attempted to murder a federal agent and we know you used federal resources to commit these crimes. You killed your husband. You no doubt caused the explosion that caused this." Colby tapped his leg. "Trying to clean up any links back to you. Thing is. This is now more personal than you care to imagine so there's nothing saving you from a needle in your arm right now. Nothing unless you tell us where Agent Reeves and Agent Eppes are. That is your ONLY hope of getting that needle out of your arm, so I'd take it."

Still no reaction. Colby felt like slamming his fist into the table but instead he stared down at Sophie and said nothing. This continued for several minutes as Colby considered his next plan of attack.

"Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it was all Marcus Field. Maybe you had nothing to do with all this. Maybe you found out what he'd done and you confronted him. Maybe he tried to keep you quiet, permanently, but you fought back and killed him first."

"Shut it pig."

_Contact._

"Or maybe Marcus never loved you and this was your way of paying him back for it. Maybe you set him up."

"I said shut it pig."

_Just a little push._

"Maybe Marcus loved the job more than anything and you were jealous of the job."

"Get stuffed."

An agent tapped on the glass and motioned for Colby to come out. Colby tried his best to rise without difficult but it was an almost impossible task. The young agent had a file and he pointed to a part of it that had warranted dragging Agent Granger out of an interview with a suspect. A smile formed across Colby's lips and he patted the young agent on the back, took the file and walked back into the interrogation room with a lot more ease than when he'd exited.

"So, The job wasn't Marcus's life it was yours wasn't it. Or should I say it should have been yours."

Colby threw out the file and pointed to the relevant part.

"How did it feel to be rejected from the force not once, but three times? I guess being an accountant for an abattoir is the next best thing but hey."

_Bingo._

Anger flared in Sophie's eyes as she looked across at Colby. She knew she shouldn't say anything and she had remained silent for this very reason. They'd taken away her only access to the life she loved. The calculated butcherings, the beauty as the blood flowed out of a body, all the things she had perfected over so long had been taken away from her the night Don Eppes turned up at the abattoir. He'd gone to see Marcus at their house and told him about her. Marcus was crying when he'd finally found her. He threw off his wedding ring and raised his gun on her. _On me! _Either way she had lost the life she'd fought so hard to keep, all because of Don Eppes. She was stronger than Marcus, mentally and physically. She had more practice in killing people. The bullet had left the gun at the same moment a tear formed in her eye. In one foul swoop she had killed her husband and her only access to ever killing again.

The irony that she had to kill her life supply to save herself was not easily forgotten. Don Eppes was not the only one who had been waiting in the abattoir that night. Her two stupid co-workers had come running at the sound. Tears streamed down her face freely as she soaked in both their deaths, knowing they'd be her last for a long time. Then Agent Eppes had provided one last opportunity. One last. She had wanted to make this one memorable. Take her time. Make it slow and painful for the man who had brought about the downfall of her lifeblood essentially. The shot to the head was a result of the struggle she'd put up. It was messy and it wasn't intended but she had decided it could be for the best. She took his warm body back to her house in Marcus' car wrapped in a plastic tarp. She'd kept the agent locked in the basement and that was her error. While she rode her vespa out to his SUV and dumped it in the desert, spilling some blood as a ruse, he'd come to in the basement.

The anticipation of what she was going to do to the agent was bittersweet. Knowing it would be her last kill for a long time, she wanted this one to last. It was her fatal error. She'd waited too long. She thought his head injury was worse than it was. When he'd escaped during the Sunday night, she couldn't describe the utter misery she'd felt. She felt dead herself.

There was no way she was letting Agent Eppes get away twice, not now her life was over.

"Screw you."

Colby leant back and sighed. It was going to be a long day.

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David and Liz were now both trying to extricate Charlie from the crime scene but he was being particularly stubborn,

"Charlie, Colby should have something for us by now. There's nothing for you here." Liz explained.

Charlie shook his head. "No, see, it doesn't make sense. Nothing about this case has ever made sense. The timeframes have all been out."

"We know that Charlie. Sophie soiled the data with false evidence, you couldn't have known." David reached out for Charlie's arm.

"No David, that's not what I'm talking about. Sophie is in custody right. How long did it take you guys to get here after the report of the gunshot?"

"LAPD were on the scene in 20." Liz offered.

"Right, so how could she kill two agents and end up across town in under an hour?"

David and Liz looked at each other, Charlie had a point but it's not like they hadn't considered it. "It doesn't help us though Charlie. Does it?"

"Yes it does Liz. It means probabilistically they're alive and certainly they are somewhere near here. Even if they were…" Charlie couldn't bring himself to say the word 'dead' so he just skimmed over it. "Even if they were, they could only be a matter of yards. Think about it. Two bodies. She has to dispose of them and dispose of Megan's car. Assuming they're alive and even mobile, they wouldn't have gone anywhere with her quickly, not willingly. No. Wherever my brother is…wherever Megan is…I'd say they'd be no further than a few hundred yards."

David looked at Liz and nodded. Every law enforcement officer in the vicinity was prepped in under two minutes for the task ahead.

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"Tell me, when you were in fugitive recovery, what was the best part?"

Don smiled groggily at Megan and his head lolled to the side a little as he tried to think. She was worried about him. For the past fifteen minutes his conversation had slurred slightly and it wasn't making much sense. Her focus now was on trying to keep him thinking so he would be a little bit lucid.

"The girls. Lots of girls. I wish they all could be California girls though."

Despite her worry, Megan smiled a little. "Oh yeah, I heard you partner got all the girls, you just caught the bad guys."

"Coop? Coop? Nah. He went too far. Job. All about the job. Had to get out. Slippery slope y'know. You a natural redhead? Coop's a redhead. You could have little redheaded babies. Nice."

That one made Megan laugh slightly. A noise made her stop suddenly. Megan listened intently, her adrenaline fighting the pain as she began to think Sophie had made it back. Again a noise. Again Megan was on the alert but the basement remained dark and silent. The noise was coming from outside, and above.

"FBI Agent. Help. FBI."

Megan's yelling caused Don to start, his vision swimming and his nausea rising more ferociously than before. "Shh."

"FBI. Help us please. I'm Agent Reeves and Agent Eppes, we're in a basement. Please call the LA FBI and report this."

A frown burrowed across Don's forehead. "I said shut up. Geez. You'll wake Dad."

The level of Don's voice startled Megan. He'd almost yelled it and she forgot herself for a second. She was about to yell again when she heard a familiar sound. Liz's voice.

"Megan? Don?"

"Liz? We're in a basement. House directly behind Sophie Field's, cemented in window. You can't miss it."

"Miss, I said be quiet." Don's eyes began to droop as his reality slipped away from him.

Liz's response was quick. "We're on it. Are you injured?"

"Gunshot wound to my shoulder, I'll live. Don's got a pretty bad concussion, he's not so coherent. Hurry. But be careful, Sophie Field. It's Sophie."

"Yeah we know. She's in custody. Just stay put, we're coming." Liz's mumbled words were drowned out by the sound of shuffling feet, no doubt from the rescue team. Megan couldn't help but wonder what Liz meant by the last comment; where did she think they were going to go?


	17. Chapter 17

_Ok, so my computer crashed big time. It's virtually brand new. So I take it to store. Huge delay. They tell me all my data is lost and I need a new hard drive. They tell me I have a new hard drive come and collect my dataless computer. I turn up, take morning off work, only to discover that the new hard drive has crashed. I beg for a new computer, if I have no data what's the point? They tell me they've saved all my data so just wait for the new repairs. Angry and tired of fighting I just wait. Finally computer is returned, seems to have data but it's only an appearance of data, programs need to reinstalled..blah blah blah…how could I explain to the techs what they're doing, leaving me hanging unable to post? Finally, here it is…the last chapter. I hope it satisfies despite the tardiness. I re-read other chapters and sometimes I realize I jump around a bit on sentences making it difficult to understand what I'm talking about or whose perspective it is, hopefully I can rectify that tendency in this one. If you're still reading…then thanks and enjoy (hopefully)_

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"Agent. Please. Keep still." The paramedic was trying his best to administer relief to the agent but they were fidgeting so much it was becoming impossible. He had one last resort for these type of patients – the BIG needle. He pulled out the oversized pricker and waved it in front of the uncooperative agent. "Actually, you might need this."

It worked a treat. The medic laughed at how much a prop he used to teach kids basic lifesaving skills came in handy. The agent's auburn tresses planted themselves on the pillow on the gurney and he was able to wheel her inside the ambulance without any further problems. Mind you, she had a few words to say about it…

"God, you people. Do you understand what it's like to have a partner. First you separate us and now you won't let me see him."

"Mam, you've been shot. You've lost a lot of blood, if we don't get you to hospital soon it will be your partner who will be worrying about you. This is no picnic. You've done a lot of damage to yourself, and I take your health seriously, even if you don't."

"I didn't."

The paramedic reached for an oxygen mask from inside the ambulance and pulled it over her face. The pretty agent's last comment was a bit tangental. "Huh?"

"I didn't do this to myself. A bullet and a crazy woman caused it. I did nothing to myself."

"Oh right. Sorry. Forgot I was dealing with the FBI and not the general public. You guys are so damned literal. Don't cuff me for the mistake."

Megan winced at the comment. The fire brigade had to be called to get them out of the basement area. Score 1 for the firies. Then to add insult to the FBI's injury, one of the sexiest firefighters had to pull out a very large pair of bolt cutters to remove the handcuffs on herself and Don. Megan hadn't realized how tight they were until they had been removed and a tingling sensation trickled from her wrists. She wasn't sure if it was the relief of being free or the relief that Don was safe, but Megan had forgot herself, and Larry, and caught herself flirting with the hunky fireman.

While Megan had been prodded and poked and freed, Don had been swamped by a number of people crowding him. So many bodies blocked her view she wasn't even sure Don was still there. She had been whisked out of the basement fairly quickly leaving Don in the basement without knowing his prognosis.

"Agent. Agent Reeves? Megan?" The words faded into the sound of the siren as the ambulance sped away from the crime scene. Her job done, Megan let the drugs warm and dull her body and she felt no need to respond to any more questions of the paramedics.

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"Don?" Charlie had charged into the basement, slipping past several SWAT members who tried to stop him. It was one of those moments he was glad he was short.

An array of people crowded Don so that he couldn't see him. Charlie looked briefly across to Megan and could see she was being looked after by the medics. David was standing behind her, overseeing, but Megan didn't seem to notice. She was bleeding from her shoulder and she was almost glowing white from the paleness she exhibited.

Charlie felt a pang of guilt that he was about to ignore Megan but he desperately needed to know what state Don was in. Squeezing his body through the throng of people he made it to a spot where he could see his brother's body. Don's head remained out of sight but he could see blood on his hands and over his clothes. He closed his eyes and gulped before checking the concrete underneath; there was no pool of blood and Charlie sighed with relief.

An arm found Charlie's shoulder and dragged him closer to finally see Don's face. It was Liz who had pulled him and he smiled a thanks at her. He then looked down at Don and flinched. His head wound had bled profusely, dried blood made it impossible to tell how bad the injury was. One medic was shining a light into his eyes while another was administering an IV.

"Don, Charlie's here." Liz's voice was soft but strong, concealing any of the fear she clearly had been feeling.

Don's dark and crusted head lolled to face Charlie and Liz. His lips parted but no sound escaped. Don blinked as if in slow motion and then smiled. "I've a brother…Charlie…same name. Genius. You'd like him."

At this moment the medics lifted Don onto a gurney and the crowd parted to allow them thoroughfare out of the basement. Liz held on to Charlie's shoulder and gently pulled him back into herself. "You're lucky. He thought I was his piano teacher. Not sure he was too fond of her."

Charlie wanted to smile but couldn't. Liz sensed the pain Charlie was feeling. "He's going to be OK. Once he comes to his senses. If he comes to his senses."

Charlie looked into Liz's deep eyes and finally smiled, "Not sure he ever had any senses."

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Larry's tired figure walked into the dark room and gently touched Alan's shoulder. "Fancy seeing you here."

Alan smiled and stretched. He'd been sitting in the most uncomfortable chair beside Don's bed for a few hours now. At least his previous stint in hospital had prepared him and he had brought a cushion from home this time. "Larry. How's Megan?"

"Good. Good. She's resting. Bullet went clean through. Some damage. She'll need a bit of physio to be right again but nothing that can't be fixed. I am beginning to think she's unbreakable, although there were moments there when I felt she could have been as fleeting as a comet, reliable but crumbling."

"Well I think the only thing crumbling around here is this old man's bones."

"How's he holding up? I'm not entirely familiar with concussions but I can't imagine being hit on the noggin twice would be all that…desirable." Larry collapsed in the chair next to Alan and drew his hands up under his chin as though praying.

"They've done every test under the sun. There's a bit of swelling so we need to wait until that subsides before we know if there's anything…" Alan adjusted himself in his seat, displaying his discomfort at the next thought, "…permanent."

Larry smiled at Alan and placed one of his hands on his shoulder. "The only person I know who has a harder head than Don is his brother. Speaking of, where is Charlie?"

"I don't know actually. I dozed off and he was gone. Never was one for hospitals."

Larry's eyes seemed to apologize and it made Alan feel like he needed to clarify.

"I don't blame him. It's how he copes. Even though they have opposite ways of dealing with things, it's for the same reasons. Charlie can't bear to see anything suffer, can't bear to think he can't control something. Don, well he goes even further by not wanting people to see him suffer. That's where Charlie differs. If he's sick, trust me, you'll know it."

Larry laughed and Alan smiled. Don slept, unaware he was being talked about.

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_Her body is soft. I remember it being soft. Warm, smooth and soft. I miss it. I see it wrapped in linen and soak up the smell of her. It smells of peaches and…fire. Burning flesh. An image of Liz, still…prone. I'm scared. So scared._

Don's eyes flash open with fright. It's dark and some of the shadows swim into shapes of monsters and evil. The fear he woke up from is still there and his breathing and heart rate are elevated.

"Shh, here."

A cool ice chip softly melts on his lips and somehow manages to calm him. Slowly his eyes adjust to the darkness and he sees the figure seated beside him.

"Liz."

"Shh."

"I'm sorry."

"Not as sorry as you will be. Getting yourself captured and clobbered twice."

"Sorry. I…just…"

"It's OK. I forgive you. Just don't let it happen again. Starting to suspect you're just trying to test your team on its detective skills."

"Not sorry about that. I'm sorry about…" Don found it difficult to get the words out, not really unusual of course, but this time he wanted to say them, "…the explosion. The way I reacted."

"It's OK. I can't really hold you responsible for reactions."

"Yes, yes you can. I knew I was wrong. I was just so scared. If anything happened to you. I'd…I'd die."

"So you thought you'd set about trying to do that twice. In future, how 'bout you send me flowers. Or even better, a six pack, nothing says 'don't die' like a six pack."

Internally Don was smiling but, due to the extreme pressure emanating from his head, externally he just looked blankly at Liz.

"Aw c'mon. I'm not like those other sissy girlfriends you've had. I can really bust your balls and that makes for thirsty work."

Don licked his dry lips before asking, "So we good then?"

Without thinking Liz dished out more ice chips to Don and answered his question. "We're good. I'm good. You, I'm not so sure about."

"I have a headache. That's all. Nothing to write home about."

"Hmm. You've got a hard head. Doctors say you are lucky to not have permanent damage. So stubborn you won't even let brute force crack the thoughts of Don Eppes."

"Yeah, well I don't feel lucky. I feel like a giant stepped on my head. You look good though."

"Hey, hey hey there buddy. You're still concussed. Megan filled me in on all your ramblings and let's just say, there's a few that can and will be used against you."

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A soft breeze rippled the water and sent the fish diving for cover. Charlie removed the lid of the fish food and littered a small amount of the surface. He sat back on is legs and watched the koi swim back up to the surface in search of the food.

"Thought I'd find you here."

Charlie didn't turn around to respond to Amita's voice. "Statistically, finding me somewhere within my own home was never going to be a long shot."

"No. Not even at a time when most normal people are at a hospital visiting their injured brother."

A sigh escaped Charlie's lips and he stood up to face Amita. "He's coming home this afternoon. I don't see what the problem is."

"That's fine Charlie. Don understands. You put all your energy into finding Don, I guess it seems strange to not want to reap the rewards of finally having him back."

"I didn't find him to…"

Amita brought her fingers up to Charlie's lips and shushed him with them. "He gets it. I just wanted to make sure he understood that, despite his genius brother's inability to enter a hospital, it was actually that same brother who is responsible for finding him, on all occasions."

"It wasn't just me."

"No, it wasn't but you never gave up on him. Do you know how incredibly attractive that is. I'd hope if I was missing, or in trouble, you'd be there for me."

"No Amita, don't ever hope you go missing."

"Charlie, I said if I did. Of course I don't hope to…look all I hope, well all I realize, is that you are loyal and unrelenting. Which makes you both sweet and sexy at the same time. You're a contradiction of terms."

Charlie walked across to the backdoor step and sat down. He fiddled with the fish food and Amita realized he was thinking about what he wanted to say. She knew enough to remain quiet until he formed his thought enough to share it with her.

"It's like. I could see all the scenarios in my mind. The math was there telling me one thing but this time…this time my math meant nothing. I couldn't convince anyone of it because I couldn't use it for any real purpose. The one time. The one time. My brother needs me and I, just, I couldn't deliver."

Amita rested her arm around Charlie's shoulders and gave him a light hug. "I think what you're feeling is less the frustration of not being able to get the math to show you the solution, but more the fact you kind of went into a space that Don normally occupies. I saw Charlie. No matter what, you never gave up believing in your brother. Never. Don had part of his life taken away, no memory of what he did or didn't do and you held on to his dignity for him. That's not math Charlie, that's inexplicable human connection. This one time Charlie, you were there for Don more than you could ever know. Truly."

Charlie looked up into Amita's eyes and smiled. "Have I told you how fond I am of you?"

"Not in the last day or so. C'mon." Amita stood up quickly and held a hand out to Charlie.

"What?"

"Well, it's only about an hour before your house becomes an infirmary. Let's get jiggy with it."

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"Easy."

"I'm not a cripple dad."

"Coulda fooled me."

"It's a concussion. Practically gone. Nothing wrong with my legs."

"Rubbish. You're still recovering from the last time you went missing. I see you wincing from your ribs. You'll do as you're told."

"I'm not 5 years old."

"Again, coulda fooled me. That poor nurse, the grief you gave her. Honestly if she had been able to discharge you earlier do you really believe she wouldn't have?"

"Don't start. She was nice as pie when you were there, minute you're gone she was pricking and prodding me and, I might add, she was rude. Orders were barked at me. I'm an FBI agent."

"And a very good one. But terrible with women. It's called nagging Don, and it's the only way women can get men to think about more than one thing. You're occupied with a headache so getting you to think about wiggling toes or reading anything for tests meant nagging was required."

"Whose side are you on?"

Alan didn't answer as he had finally managed to help Don from the car to the door and inside onto the lounge throughout the conversation. He had successfully kept the conversation going long enough for Don to not realize he wasn't in his own apartment. Or so he thought.

"Tomorrow, I'm outta here tomorrow."

Alan had planned for that response also. "That's a shame, I'm having all your team over for a barbeque tomorrow. Shame you'll miss out. You haven't seen Megan since the incident have you?"

"Great I escape the rusty claws of one crazed maniac only to fall victim to being held prisoner by my father."

"I heard that as 'thank-you and I really do want to catch up with Megan so I'll stay'. Say what you want and I'll hear whatever I please. That'll work nicely. Why hadn't I thought of that earlier." Alan mumbled the final part out as he walked into the kitchen.

Don sighed on the couch and looked at the remote lying on the coffee table. It was only a foot away but did he have the strength to make a grab for it before Alan came back?

"Here."

A hand appeared out of nowhere and handed the remote to Don; it was Charlie's.

"Hey buddy. I didn't hear you coming."

"Sorry. Amita's helping dad prepare food in the kitchen. Thought I'd warn you. Not sure how hungry you'll be, you know."

"yeah."

Don just looked at his brother. He could see the discomfort radiating from him. Amita had visited Don in the hospital and told him everything Charlie had done. He was going to have a few words with his team when he was back. If anyone was going to ignore Charlie's hunches in the future it would be him. Of course Charlie would deny he ever had hunches.

Charlie sat in the chair opposite and stared down at the floor. "Look, Don…"

"Don't worry about it. I'm lucky to be alive they say. I say I'm lucky to have a brother like you. That day, I shouldn't have yelled at you. I'm sorry. End of story."

"I was so scared. I thought…I dunno," Charlie choked on his emotions but continued, "…I did question myself. I thought maybe they were right. Maybe you were dead. And then when I worked out Sophie Field, well, she was out there and you…"

Don winced without Charlie seeing and leant forward, he put his arm on Charlie's and smiled, "I understand. It's OK. We're OK. It's all good."

"I can't even begin to know what you went through."

"Hey Chuck, neither can I. That bi…Sophie Field made sure of that. Spared me a lot of pain actually."

"So how you dealing with this whole being a victim thing?"

"A lot better now she's captured. And it helps that Megan is a victim too. I still have my pride. Sophie Field took down 2 agents, well not counting her husband etc. I think I can live with that. She's a monster. No one could have stopped her."

Charlie looked across at Don, despite his injuries he looked brighter than he'd seen in a long time. Nothing had been right since the drug case. A small shiver went down his spine when he thought about how close Liz, Colby, Megan and Don had all come to losing their lives in the past month. "Why do you do it?"

"Huh?"

"Why do you do this? I mean, even if you didn't die, your friends could have. I really don't see how this can be worth it. Dad and I were so scared. I don't think I will ever get the images of you that night on this floor outta my head. Why do we have to go through this?"

"Because it's something I'm good at, we're good at actually. If I didn't do it then maybe worse would have happened to us, who knows. It's not like this happens every day. You know what it's like, months go by and it's boring white collar fraud upon white collar fraud, then a violent crime pops up and it's as if, this urgency, this buzz to do some real good, serve some justice, well it all just clicks and you forgot about yourself. You forget about the impact on your family because you think about the family affected. It's not perfect but it's how it is and if I can do that, if I can help people find their loved ones, the way you helped find me, you understand how worth it that is."

"Yeah." Charlie looked down at his feet. He understood. "But dad gets so damned social after these things happen. Do you know how many ribs he bought for the barbeque tomorrow?"

Don smiled. "Do you know how many ribs Colby can eat?"

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David was the first to arrive officially. Don was sure his father had suspected that Liz had stayed the night but he couldn't be sure so he'd never mentioned it. She'd snuck in after dark like a teenager. Don was sleeping on the couch so it was an easy enough ruse. Problem was the couch only really was good for one person so it seemed convincing that she'd dropped by first thing after work because she looked so tired.

Liz was still catching up on her sleep when David arrived. Alan rushed him into the kitchen and straight into an apron to help with the cooking. Amita found it really amusing until Alan gave her the ribs to coat. "How many people are you expecting?"

David looked at the ribs and then across to Alan, "Actually I should have mentioned, I'm a vegetarian."

Alan dropped his spatula and stared at David. "Since when?"

"Since that last case. Going to an abattoir, you get a new perspective."

Alan grumbled under his breath something incoherent and then forced the salad chopping duties on David. "Surely a vegetarian can have a rib every now and again. Covered in marinade, why it's barely discernible as once living flesh. Besides, if they had barbeques set up in abattoirs, those smells, those juices floating around, it might make for a more pleasant atmosphere."

David stared at Amita in horror, who just laughed and continued cooking. David decided to change the subject. "So where's Charlie?"

"Oh he's out in the garage." Amita responded.

"Right. Guess he let a bit of work slide during these past few weeks."

"Ah no, he and Larry are making ice-cream Larry style. It may be Charlie's house but I'm still his father and there's no way I'm letting his science experiments in the house when there's perfectly good ice-cream for sale in every store around town."

The doorbell saved David from further cooking duties and he rushed off to let Colby into the house.

"Hey David."

"Shh. Liz." David pointed to the sleeping beauty on the couch.

"It's ok, not like I'm going to get much sleep anyway," came a tiny voice from the couch.

"Everyone here?" Colby asked David as he hobbled with his crutches towards the kitchen.

"No, waiting for Megan. Actually I'm not sure where Don is either." David sashayed straight out of the kitchen to the backyard to get Colby set up at a chair, and avoid the cooking duties.

Alan followed them with a few bowls of salad and answered David's question. "He's making himself pretty. Takes a bit of time these days. Not sure if he's also forgotten how to wash himself but it's likely. Still it's Charlie's water bill not mine."

At that moment Amita walked outside with the ribs and headed to the barbeque. Liz came yawning through the backdoor and grabbed herself a seat at the table.

"Guess these guys made you work the hardest huh, up all night at the FBI," Alan prodded.

David and Colby looked at each other and instantly knew not to say anything. Liz let out a breath, and yawned through her response to Alan. "No rest for the wicked."

"Indeed."

The conversation from the backyard filtered in through the upstairs bathroom and Don stood staring at himself. He was glad his ordeal was over but he wasn't entirely convinced he was ready for a team building day courtesy of his father. Even if he managed to stay awake the whole time, the constant subtext of not talking about the case would be exhausting. How he wished for a quiet beer and a hockey game right now, instead of a full on feeding frenzy.

Knowing if he didn't come out soon his dad would send someone up, Don unlatched the door and headed downstairs. As he landed softly from the staircase there was a knock from the front door. Don opened it tentatively and then swung it back with some force once he saw it was Megan.

She handed him a six pack of beer and smiled, "Assuming you can't have any of these yet."

"Says who."

"I don't know, modern medicine, the person in charge of your team who will be signing off on your fitness to return to work."

"That's blackmail Reeves."

"Oh no. Not at all. Blackmail would be threatening to post on the FBI intranet what a certain FBI agent thinks about Director Wright if you don't recommend me for a payrise. The words smelly and insincere come to mind."

"Ok now that's a federal offence. I could have you sacked for that."

"You could but I know you Eppes. You're desperately trying to remember what you did say during those cosy few hours in captivity we spent and I'm betting you're not getting many strikes."

_Damn Reeves. Too profiley for my own good. _"I'm guessing one thing I didn't say was thanks."

Megan was surprised and a little taken aback by this admonition from Don Eppes. "Don't worry about it."

"No, I owe you. According to the docs your attempts at keeping me talking helped. Now I'm not so sure they helped me, maybe they meant you, but thanks anyway."

"Like I said, don't mention it. Besides, I owe you too."

"For what? Giving you blackmail fodder?"

"No. Knowing that you'd made it away from Sophie Field once meant I didn't give up hope. You kept me going super-fed. We're square."

Don smiled. He had a great team. Maybe today wasn't going to be such a drain after all.

Don put his arm around Megan and walked her out to the garden. Seeing his whole team seated around the table laughing made him smile. They all raised a glass to Megan and Don "to the FBI."

Don grabbed for a beer but Alan was quicker and he handed him a juice instead. Don glared at his dad but accepted it. He chinked his glasses with everyone at the table and sat down next to Liz. "Where's Charlie?"

There was no need to answer as Charlie and Larry bounded into the garden with a metal vat that looked like it was steaming.

"Ice-cream everyone." Charlie called out.

"Charlie, we haven't even had starters yet." Alan grumbled.

Charlie looked at Larry. "But if we don't eat it now it'll melt," Larry cried.

Megan laughed and squeezed Larry. "Backwards dinner it is. Never known for anything to be conventional with you lot."

As the afternoon wore on Don sat back, mostly silent, enjoying the company. For a few hours he forgot about his injuries, he forgot about his ordeal, and he was glad he forgot. All he wanted to remember from here on in was moments like these. Moments where he didn't need to talk, he just had to be.


End file.
